


Home Is Where the Heart Is || Naruto Fanfic

by ToriIsATree



Category: Naruto
Genre: Bottom Uzumaki Naruto, Eventual Romance, F/M, Female Uzumaki Naruto, Fuuinjutsu Master Uzumaki Naruto, Protective Uchiha Sasuke, Smart Uzumaki Naruto, Teen Romance, Uchiha Sasuke & Uzumaki Naruto Friendship, Uke Uzumaki Naruto, Uzukage Uzumaki Naruto, Uzushiogakure | Hidden Eddy Village
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:28:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 14
Words: 31,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26067244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToriIsATree/pseuds/ToriIsATree
Summary: "A house is made with walls and beams; a home is built with love and dreams."Naruko wanted somewhere to belong her entire life. She wanted a home - a place where her heart belonged in. Her birthing village was never home. How could it be? Her fellow villagers tortured her; they made sure she knew that they didn't want her.So, she left.Leaving ended up being the best decision she could ever make. Now working to rebuild her clan's old village and making an alliance with those who bear the same burden she does, she meets someone that may just show her where her home is.
Relationships: Gaara/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 35
Kudos: 262
Collections: Naruto FF, Naruto Fanfictions





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> !!MENTIONS OF RAPE AND SUICIDE!!

https://ibb.co/y4WWbNS 

**Art by me**

**^Very small adjustments made to to the outfit.**

**\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -**

A small, three-foot-five, girl lay on the cold, stone ground. Her whiskered face was void of emotion, except the large crystal tears that ran down her face like a river. She lay on her back, silent, with her apathetic face facing up at the star-filled night sky, her blue-fading-into-violet eyes having lost their real shine a long time ago. Her mouth remained in a straight line and her unfocused eyes simply watched the night sky above her. Her arms lay outstretched to her sides and her body remained unmoving - even her chest barely rose and fell as the girl inhaled and exhaled - except for the small involuntary shivers that the cold wind blew onto her half-naked body. She still had her oversized white t-shirt (which had an orange Uzumaki Swirl on the front), now covered in dirt and grime from the ground. Her navy blue oversized shorts had long since been ripped and thrown off to the side, her underwear had been burned by a low-level fire jutsu and all that remained were ashes that had been blown away by the wind a while ago. Her lower half had a dull burning ache - which was slowly disappearing because of her fast healing rate.

The seven year-old then sharply inhaled, her eyes flying wide-open when a particularly cold breeze knocked into her. Just as fast as her blue-and-violet eyes opened, they went back to normal. With a quiet groan of pain, she curled up into herself in a futile attempt to preserve any remnants of heat in her small body. 

_Kurama?_ She asked in her mind, her body void of life. It took a few seconds before she heard the rumbling of her tenant's deep, gruff voice. 

" **I'm here, Kit**." He grumbled in response to the girl's call. " **You okay?** " The girl made no answer and he sighed softly. " **Right**." Their conversation ended there and the girl made no attempt to move the crimson-tipped blonde her out of hair face and off of the ground. 

The pitter-patter of running footsteps sounded from beyond where the seven year-old lay, along with ragged breaths. The mostly-blonde girl quickly tried to push herself backwards, only to hiss at the pain it brought. When the running and the shadows stopped in front of the alley, she gave up in acceptance of her demise and immediately fell to the ground with her expression that of what it was before. 

"Hello...?" A young boy's voice called quietly. The girl saw the silhouette of a boy a few inches taller than her and lay motionless, her heart rate speeding up slightly when he began approaching, scared and expecting that once he sees and recognises her as the Demon Brat of Konohagakure he will continue her abuse.

The boy continued to approach, curiosity getting the better of him. He continued his advance, hands held together in front of his chest with nerves. When he saw the body of a young girl - looking to be a year, maybe two, younger than him - his charcoal eyes widened in shock and he began to run to her, falling next to her body. He quickly lifted his hand and moved it to her neck, sighing in relief when he felt a pulse. 

"Hey, are you okay?!" He exclaimed in a slight panic, hands shaking her body. Her blue-and-violet eyes trailed to look at the boy's face and she blinked slowly, then turned back to let her eyes go unfocused once again as they looked up. "Can you sit?" He asked slowly, taking his arms back. The girl blinked, then slowly began to push herself up, groaning lowly. He panicked for a moment, then helped her sit up. The girl sighed slowly, leaning into his chest and letting her eyes close slightly. The seven year-old boy let the girl sit in his lap, her head leaning against his chest. He couldn't help it when his pale cheeks gained a pink tint when he felt that she wore nothing except the oversized white t-shirt that thankfully covered enough of her body. "Hey, what's your name?" He quickly asked, noticing that she was quickly falling asleep.

"I-I...I'm...Na..ru..." 'Naru' then slipped into unconsciousness before she could finish. I guess I'll call you Naru, for now. 

The boy turned around and began to move Naru's body so that she fell against his back. The boy made sure she wasn't going to fall off, then picked her up, piggyback. He gripped her thighs, feeling nervous for some reason. Once he made sure Naru definitely wouldn't fall off, he began to run to his home.

When he got to the front gates, he ran along the path until he reached his home, kicking the doors open. Almost immediately, his older brother showed up in front of him. The eleven year-old was about to ask him where he was, then saw the tiny girl attached to his younger brother's back. His eyes widened slightly, then ushered for the younger to take her to either the couch or a bed. 

"You put her on the couch, or bed, or something. I'll go get Kaa-san." The younger nodded quickly, running to the living room, where he let Naru gently fall onto the soft couch. The seven year-old quickly put a blanket over her and waiting a few more seconds before his mother appeared in the living room doorway.

"What happened?!" The woman exclaimed in shock, noticing the unconscious, blanket-covered girl on the couch. 

"Kaa-san! I don't know! I found her lying on the floor when I was coming home. She only had a t-shirt on, so I thought she was cold." The boy said, looking up at his mother. 

"She didn't-" The child's mother began, then sighed and turned to look at both boys with a hard look. "Both of you - out." Not wanting to annoy the woman, both males quickly left the room and closed the door after they entered the hallway.

* * * * *

When the mostly-blonde girl awoke, she looked around in a panic when she felt warmth and the feeling of cushions under her. When Naru's blue-and-violet eyes landed on the raven-haired woman before her, the emotion fell from her face and fell into an emotionless gaze. 

"What's your name, sweetheart?" She asked softly, a small smile on her pale face. Naru's eyes narrowed in suspicion and she hesitated before speaking slowly.

"I'm...Naruko..." Naruko spoke quietly, eyes narrowed in suspicion. This made the woman's soft smile become sad. "Who are you?" 

"Ah, I'm Mikoto Uchiha." The woman introduced herself with a soft voice.

"Uchiha..." Naruko murmured quietly with furrowed brows, then inhaled sharply through her nose. "I can't be here." 

"What do you mean, sweetie?" Mikoto asked softly, watching as Naruko looked down, then back up at her, a confused look on her whiskered face.

"You do know who I am, correct?" At the woman's nod, the seven year-old's eyes hardened and a small glare set onto her face. "Then you should know what I am, and why someone of your status shouldn't be around me." 

"That's stupid!" Mikoto suddenly shouted, startling the mostly-blonde child before her. "Don't listen to what those idiots say! Just-" She sighed. "You're a child. Not some demon." 

Naruko sighed and looked around the room. "I assume I am in the Uchiha compound. How did I get here?" 

"My youngest son, Sasuke, found you. How old are you, Naruko?" 

"Seven. My turn: why are two people behind the door?" Mikoto chuckled softly at the girl, then answered.

"Well, those two are my sons - Sasuke and Itachi. And they're not here because you're not wearing anything except a shirt. Can I ask how that happened, sweetheart?" 

The mostly-blonde girl went silent and gripped the blanket on her lap tightly, the material bunching up in her small hand as she shifted uncomfortably, the dull ache making her wince. Realisation flashed in Mikoto's eyes and her eyes flashed red with her Sharingan in anger.

"Those bastards! Don't worry, you can stay here if you want." Naruko shook her head in protest. "Will you at least let me clean you up and feed you, for now?" Thinking for a moment, Naruko then nodded.

"Sure, but I will leave after." Naruko compromised, giving Mikoto a pointed look that gave no room for disagreement. Said woman sighed, but nodded.

"Okay. Now, let's go. I'm taking you to take a bath." 

In the bath, Naruko sat in the tub silently, eyes closed. 

_Kurama?_

" **Yes, Kit? Having fun?** " Kurama chuckled at the contentedness he could feel from his host.

 _...Yes...I don't want to leave, but I have to_. 

" **Who says you have to leave?** " The Nine-Tails asked softly, opening his originally-closed crimson eyes. The girl stayed silent and reopened her eyes, looking at the foaming bubbles that sat on top of the water around her. The water felt warm against her cold skin and the dirt and grime that was previously on her was removed and replaced with warm water and cleanliness.

 _Nobody, but I don't want the villagers throwing a fit about how the Uchihas are being manipulated by the Demon Brat, or whatever._ Naruko sighed contently and closed her eyes. _Ah, my apartment doesn't have hot water like this. I sure do wish I could stay._

Just as Naruko was about to fall asleep, she was forcefully awoken by a knock to the bathroom door. Her blue-and-violet eyes snapped open in shock and she sat up at lightning speed, sloshing the soapy water around.

"Ah! I wasn't sleeping!" She exclaimed quickly. Mikoto's muffled giggling could be heard from the other side of the door before her voice replaced it.

"Naruko-chan. I have some old clothes I managed to find. They're by the door when you're done." 

"Okay, thank you, ma'am." Naruko answered, blinking slowly as her eyes became half-lidded as the fatigue of the week flooded her system.

Naruko sighed quietly and blinked before opening her eyes and sitting up. She stood up, moving her now-clean blonde, crimson-tipped hair over her shoulder, where it dripped with the water that remained. Naruko shivered at the cool air that surrounded her body after being in hot water and quickly wrapped a clean towel around her small, three-foot-five, figure. Drying off, Naruko walked towards the bathroom door after unplugging the bathtub and opened it, then reached around it to get the two pairs of clothes Mikoto had left for her. She looked at the two sets of clothing and saw that both had shorts. Both outfits were slightly oversized, but the first one seemed to fit better.

The first outfit consisted of white shorts that would reach just past her knees, along with a black v-neck long-sleeved t-shirt. The second included dark grey shorts that also reached past her knees and a navy blue long-sleeved turtleneck that would cover her chin - maybe even her mouth. It seemed to be thick and warm, so the second outfit is the one Naruko decided to go with, despite the fact it didn't fit her as much. But, hey, she could grow into it, couldn't she? At least, this way, the outfit would last her for at least a few months (if it didn't get ruined during an attack, that is). 

After Naruko had exited the bathroom, her small feet tapped against the wooden flooring as she made her way back to the living room. There, she made her way to the couch and sat down, still holding the now-wet towel in her lap.

After a few minutes, Mikoto returned to find the girl half-asleep and smiled. 

"Are you feeling better?" She asked softly, then frowned slightly at the flinch the girl produced. 

"A-ah. Yes, thank you." She quickly recovered, her face falling into a sad look. In an attempt to distract her, Mikoto smiled softly.

"Would you like to meet my sons?" 

"Are you sure? Won't I be a bother?" Then, at the confused look on the woman's face, Naruko explained what she meant. "I-I mean, I'm leaving soon, anyway, so..."

"That's fine, sweetheart. My youngest has actually been wanting to meet you." 

"Ah, okay then. But..." Naruko trailed off into quiet mumbling, fiddling with her fingers as her head tilted to look down at her lap, her whiskered cheeks a fiery pink.

"But, what, Naruko-chan?" 

"Could you...stay...?" Surprise took over Mikoto's face, then once again morphed into a smile. 

"Of course! I'll go get them, okay?" Naruko nodded slowly, gripping the towel in her lap tightly.

When Mikoto returned, it was with a boy that had black spiky hair that curved upwards at the back, two spiked bangs hanging on both sides of his face. The one behind was taller and had similar bangs - clearly indicating that they were brothers - and a low ponytail that rested against his back. Both had coal black eyes that were focused on the brightly-haired girl on the couch.

The younger of the two approached her almost immediately and stood before her silently. Naruko was tense, but kept her face passive, looking over him for any ill intent. She then did the same with the older brother. When she saw no ill meaning, Naruko relaxed slightly. Her face went from passive to one of slight curiosity. She turned to the younger.

"Were you the one who found me?" Naruko asked softly. At his nod, she gave him the smallest of smiles. "Thank you."

"It was no problem! I couldn't just leave you there, after all..." Silence then reigned over the room and a slightly awkward air filled it. 

After a minute or so, the older brother cleared his throat and sat down beside where the younger was in front of Naruko.

"My name is Itachi Uchiha, this is my younger brother: Sasuke." Nodding, Naruko glanced at Mikoto, who gave her a smile of encouragement.

"I'm Naruko Uzumaki." 

* * * * *

Over the next few months, Naruko's and the main Uchiha family's relationship grew into something grand. Naruko became the addition that the main family needed all along. This, however, did nothing to stop the coup d'état that forced Itachi to massacre his whole clan - save for his little brother, Sasuke - some time into their first year in the ninja academy. 

Naruko's treatment became even worse. The civilians had seen Sasuke talking and spending time with the seven year-old girl, then Itachi and their parents, and had figured that Naruko had somehow brainwashed the Uchihas and then made the older son of the head of the clan murder everyone. While they pitied and offered their sympathy to the remaining survivor of the - what was now dubbed as the - 'Uchiha Massacre', they tortured the Jinchuuriki of the Kyūbi even worse than they previously had. Even with her fast healing that was granted to her by Kurama, the healing could no longer completely fix the injuries and now occasionally left a scar. 

The Third Hokage had found out that his surrogate grand-daughter's treatment had gotten even worse and allowed her to take shelter with his presence. However, that never stopped the civilians. They would find moments when she was alone, and relied on her fast healing to get away with their actions. The new methods they'd thought of hurt even worse and she had found herself wanting death more and more. She just wanted it to be over. It felt like before she'd been found by Sasuke all over again. 

Before meeting Sasuke, Itachi and Mikoto, she would wish for death to come after every single beating and had found herself not caring if she even ate, drank, or took care of herself in general. She didn't care how, she just wanted to die. There was one thing stopping her, though, and that was Sasuke - especially now. The two of them had just lost their family, Sasuke more so as he had a relationship with every Uchiha, and she didn't want to leave him alone. She didn't want him to suffer through the pain of losing her. He had lost everyone else, but she was still here. She could talk to him, make sure he was okay. Despite this, she still wanted to escape. She wanted to leave. That's when she got an idea.

Sasuke hadn't seen Naruko in a few days, and the loneliness was getting to him. The silence and lack of her comforting company had made him relive the night he was made an orphan. He couldn't imagine how Naruko felt, either. Ever since he had brought the girl home and saved her from freezing that night, he had essentially helped her make a new family. She had finally found someone else she could trust. He had also succeeded in gaining her trust to the point she began calling him 'Nii-chan', and him 'Imouto'. The mostly-blonde girl even began calling his mother 'Kaa-san'. She actually trusted Sasuke enough to tell him of her treatment and the reason behind it, as well as how she could speak to the Kyūbi, and was very adamant that he hated being called by his title and preferred his name. 

The raven-haired eight year-old was incredibly worried for his sister in all but blood and would give anything to see her and make sure she was okay. He was thankful that she wasn't in the compound that night - he wasn't sure if Itachi would've killed her or not, but he sure as hell wouldn't ever take that chance. And, speaking of his brother, Sasuke didn't know whether to hate him or not. 

Itachi had said that he should hate him and gain power to kill him, but Sasuke didn't want to gain power through hate. That was one of the many things Naruko had taught him - to not hate anybody. Disliking someone was fine, but hate? No - hate leads to revenge, and revenge leads to hurting people. She didn't want her precious people to ever become like the villagers - bitter with hate and driven to doing actions that could cost him things he would never want to lose. She had also taught him that hating and disliking someone was not worth it unless you knew why they had done whatever they'd done - a principle Sasuke found himself agreeing with. He hadn't known why Itachi had massacred everyone, so he didn't have any right to hate his older brother, did he? Yes, Itachi had said that he'd murdered them to test his strength, but (after spending so much time around his brother) he'd picked up on the habits he made when he lied.

This had confused Sasuke to no end - why was his Nii-san lying? What was he hiding? Why was he hiding it? Sasuke began to think about everything and had decided then and there that he would find Itachi and find out why the hell he murdered everyone in their clan and made Naruko lose the people she had come to love, trust and care about - the people that had become her surrogate family. He would do this, and also protect Naruko. He didn't want her to ever get hurt again and he would willingly swear on his life that he would protect her; he was her Nii-chan, after all. 

Just as he had made up his mind, the window slid open and shut beside him. Sasuke's head whipped around to face the intruder with a steely look, only to relax with a sigh at Naruko's four-foot-zero-tall figure (after being taken care of by his mother, who wouldn't let her skip even one of her meals - or let her waste a single bite, for that matter - she had begun to grow as her body got the nutrients and food it desperately needed). 

"Naruko." Sasuke breathed quietly, glancing at the partly-open door that allowed the darkness to seep in. The only light illuminating the room was the light from the moon. It was dark, yet light enough for Sasuke to see the girl's clothes and the backpack attached to her back. 

Naruko wore a short orange kimono that was very close to her neck with how much it was closed - Sasuke could see it had slightly risen and hugged the very base of her tanned neck. It wasn't a bright orange, but rather a darker shade of orange that would let her sneak around in the dark. The rim and edges of the Kimono were coloured a dark red. Around her torso was an obi with the Uzumaki clan symbol in the middle at the front, as well as one at the back. Underneath the short kimono was a long-sleeved mesh shirt that reached to the middle of her forearms. On her legs, Naruko wore stockings that were a very dark red - darker than the edges of her kimono- that reached up to just above her knees, and a pair of black tight-fitting shorts that just barely peeked out from under the kimono, which was up to her mid-thigh. On her feet were ninja sandals that crept up just a little past her ankle. Finally, clasped to her ears, were clip-on earrings that hung with the orange Uzumaki crest at the bottom. On her back was a dark blue backpack filled with things that Sasuke had no knowledge of. 

Naruko jumped down from the window sill, her clothed feet lightly tapping the hospital floor. A small smile graced her face and she stepped up beside the bed that Sasuke sat on. She sat down on the chair beside the bed and looked at Sasuke. 

"Hey, how you holding up?" Naruko asked softly, taking his hand in her's. Sasuke pulled a face.

"I've been better. What about you?" He then eyed the backpack on her back. "And what's with the bag?" 

"Actually-" Naruko cleared her throat. "-I need to talk to you..."

"I know that tone. What's going on?" Sasuke demanded, thinking it had something to do with the villagers. In a way, it did.

"There's not really any easy way to say this..." Naruko took a deep breath, closing her eyes. When they reopened, Sasuke only grew more concerned when he saw them glistening in the moonlight with a coat of tears. "...I'm leaving."

"You're..w-what?" Sasuke spluttered in shock. His eyes widened and he grabbed Naruko's hands in his tightly. "Why?!" 

"Don't get me wrong, Sasuke. I don't want to leave you behind, or leave you at all for that matter, but I don't want to stay in a village where I'm constantly tortured every night. I love you, Sasuke, and when I think about how much I'm going to miss you, it makes me not want to go." 

"Then, take me with you!" Sasuke exclaimed desperately, tears coating his dark eyes. Naruto grit her teeth to stop herself from crying out with a loud sob, tears rushing down her cheeks. She shook her head.

"I can't, Sasuke. You're the last surviving Uchiha. The council won't let you leave." 

"I don't care! Please! I don't want to live in a world where I can't see you every day!"

"Sasuke, I-"

"Imouto...please..."

"Sasuke, I can't - you can't." Naruko whispered brokenly, tears rushing down both of their cheeks. Deep down, Sasuke knew he couldn't leave, but that didn't mean he didn't want to. Naruko wanted to do anything but leave him here. She wanted to take him - hell, she'd even kidnap him. Sasuke's pleas and begs for her to take him with her made it all the much harder to leave him behind. "Sasuke, I can't take you with me. I want to, but I can't."

"Naruko." Sasuke gave her a pleading look and Naruko looked away, biting her bottom lip. 

"Sasuke." She finally said quietly, giving him a sad, but steely gaze. He sighed and nodded, then looked down in sadness. 

"Okay...But promise you'll stay in contact? Promise you'll visit?" Sasuke asked quietly and hopefully.

"Of course I'll stay in contact, Nii-chan. I swear. And I can't visit regularly, but I'll visit as much as I can. Hey, there's Chunin Exams every year, right? I promise I'll come when you join the exams and watch you become a chunin." 

"Good. I'll let you know when I get signed up to do them." Sasuke said with a small grin that seemed to resemble Naruko's. It seemed as though Sasuke and Naruko spent too much time together. Naruko nearly laughed at the thought. 

"Okay, then, here." Naruko slid her kimono up slightly to expose her thigh and pumped chakra into it. A storage seal appeared and, a few seconds later, a scroll. "If you ever want to contact me, put your letter, or whatever, in here. It'll send a small jolt through me to let me know something has entered it and vice versa. We can exchange stuff this way and keep contact." Sasuke smiled, putting the scroll beside him. "Ah, I'll draw a storage seal on you that'll only appear when you pump chakra through it. You can put stuff, like this scroll, in there so that you can keep it with you at all times." 

"Okay, thanks." Sasuke shifted and exposed his left side to her. Naruko took out some ink, pouring a little into another vial and then reached out with it towards Sasuke.

"Pour your chakra into this. That way, it'll only respond to you." Nodding, Sasuke did as told and then let his surrogate sister draw a storage seal on his side, tensing and exhaling heavily at the tickling she caused him. "Hey, you wanted it on your side, don't blame me." Naruko snorted, as if reading his thoughts. After one last stroke, she was done. They let it dry for a minute or so, then Naruko instructed for Sasuke to pump his chakra into the seal to make sure it worked. He stored the scroll in there, then turned to the seven year-old girl that had mostly-blonde-coloured hair.

"I'm gonna miss you." Sasuke said at last, his smile turning sad. Naruko reciprocated, not wanting to leave her surrogate brother. 

"So am I. Can I have one last hug before I leave?" Sasuke didn't even pause before he pulled her into his chest. Naruko breathed in the smell that never failed to calm her one last time. 

The two of them hugged for a while. Eventually, Sasuke had let Naruko go. Naruko stood and began walking towards the window. 

"Oh, and Naruko?"

"Hmm?" She didn't dare turn, out of fear that she really wouldn't be able to leave anymore. She was scared that if she looked at him one more time, her heart would make her stay here with her brother. 

"If you get the chance to, could you - maybe - look for Itachi...?" Naruko paused, then smiled, then snorted.

"Of course. Goodbye, Nii-chan."

"Bye, Imouto." With that, Naruko exited through the window, sliding it shut after her, and made her way to the village gates, ready to start a new journey.


	2. Chapter One

Naruko used chakra to boost her speed. "I'm almost there, Kurama...!" She exclaimed breathlessly, her face scrunching up at the burning in her legs. She hadn't stopped ever since she'd left Konoha and she sure as all hell wasn't about to. 

" **Good, Kit. Once you're there you can get that seal you started on finished.** " Kurama suggested, watching through his host's eyes as she flew through the trees. 

"Right. Although, Uzushio is the Uzumaki clan's home land, right?" Naruko said, panting heavily from the huge workout she was doing - she had, after all, been running at nearly full speed for about half a day and her small body was screaming at her to stop. 

" **Yes, that's correct. Why?** " 

"Well, doesn't that mean that there should be scrolls and stuff on sealing and the Uzumaki Chains, as well as any other clan techniques?" Naruko voiced her thoughts, narrowing her blue-and-violet eyes when the scent of saltwater invaded her sensitive nose.

" **There should be - this is the Uzumaki clan village, after all. Considering who the Uzumakis are, there might be some kind of seal, or something. I don't know.** " Naruko snorted lightly at the fox within her, then stopped on a branch when some ruins appeared in between the trees. 

"Kurama, is that...?" She trailed off, looking at the stone ruins. At the nod Naruko felt in her mind, she stepped forward slowly, as if she was about to step onto sacred ground.

Walking forward, Naruko seemed to hesitate in stepping onto the soil of her home land. Taking a deep breath, Naruko stepped onto the land through the gate and, as soon as she placed her foot down on the soil, immediately felt one with the land. She could feel all the movements and life on the ground. She could feel the small vibrations as certain large chunks of stone grated against each others as gravity slowly but surely took its toll on some of the larger and heavier chunks. She could feel every insect and creature moving about. She felt the ants that moved around, felt a small squirrel's feet patter on the ground, scurrying off. She could feel the life that was here, and the life that was not. 

Naruko took a deep breath in, the feeling of knowing where everything was calming her. A smile crept onto her face and she simply stood there for a few minutes, just feeling every creature and plant that thrived in and on the land around her. However, one thing made her frown. It was the lack of one certain type of presence - the lack of _human_ presence. Naruko felt the missing presence of the villagers and that threw her off-balance. She didn't like the feeling. Why did she feel so... _off_?

 **"I don't know what it is, but it's either a seal or a technique that's specific to the Uzumaki clan. It's supposed to let all Uzumakis feel people's and things' chakra, or something. I don't know the specifics but I think the reason you feel so off is cause this was supposed to let anyone with Uzumaki blood know what and who is where at any given point in any part of their land, but it hasn't been used or done its job in years, so the effect of the lack of another Uzumaki presence for decades could be coming back to you stronger, especially considering the fact that you're part of the main family**." Kurama explained softly and quietly, not wanting to annoy his host, who was quite scary when she was angry. 

_Thank you, Kurama. I'm gonna look around._

To Naruko, speaking here seemed like something immoral, or wrong at the very least. She didn't want to speak on the ground that was basically a cemetery for her ancestors. She began walking forward, breathing in the air that belonged to her home village. Her blue-and-violet eyes looked around at the stone ruins, some mouldy wood, and gave a soft, sad smile. I've got my work cut out for me. 

_Hey, Kurama? Is there a training ground anywhere?_

The aforementioned Kyūbi snorted. " **Do I _look_ like a tour guide?**"

 _No, but you sound like one_. Naruko ignored her tenant's grumble about how he wasn't appreciated and kept looking around. An idea suddenly came to her. Naruko closed her eyes and focused on the chakra presence of the land around her. She mainly focused on the ground she walked on. The animals, insects and plants all began to become less prominent and the ground's presence became stronger. Naruko's feet began to feel warm and tingly from the strong presence of the ground. The whiskered eight year-old focused on the amount of chakra in the ground. A training ground typically had slightly more chakra to reinforce it so that it wouldn't break as easily, so all Naruko had to do was search for the stronger chakra presence. _There_. She thought, opening her eyes and moving towards the closest training ground she could feel. 

Upon arrival, Naruko looked around and whistled quietly at the sheer size. 

"Hey, Kurama. Wanna come out for a bit?" At the fox's eager agreement, she snorted and created one Shadow Clone. Kurama immediately flooded most his chakra into it and transported his conscious into it. The Shadow Clone's features immediately began to change. Its hair grew slightly spikier on the tips and bangs and the crimson in its hair became more prominent - instead of just painting the tips, it reached to nearly halfway before gradually changing into blonde. The whiskers on its cheeks became thicker, its canines and fingernails got longer and sharper and its eyes turned a deep blood red, giving the clone a more feral look. 

"Ah, it feels good to be out." Kurama spoke in Naruko's clone's body. His voice came out scratchy and slightly more feminine than his usual deep growling voice that would rumble through Naruko's head whenever he spoke. 

Kurama stretched, interlocking his hands together and streching his arms out with his palms out until the bones in his spine and arms cracked, a sigh escaping him. 

"Okay, now for _training_." Naruko shivered slightly at the tone of his voice and the glint in his crimson eyes, as well as the ferocious grin that spread across his face. "Make five-hundred clones."

* * * * *

After the gruelling training session that Kurama had put Naruko and her clones through (which was more like torture, but she wouldn't give him the pleasure of knowing he'd exhausted and pained an Uzumaki, as well as a Jinchūriki), Naruko could be found on a thick tree branch, her back against the trunk. She was breathing slightly heavy, even after twenty minutes of sitting after the 'training session'. Naruko nearly groaned, thinking of how she would be forced to train like this every day for at least a year, before she set out to look for anyone that needed shelter. The rebuilding process would take a long time, the minimum of which was a year, and the sadistic fox took glee in that fact. Naruko's eyes widened for a split second, then blinked slowly.  
  
"Ah right, the seal." Naruko opened her backpack and poured chakra into one of the storage seals inside it. Out popped a some papers - all with the same foundation seal. The foundation seal was a basic healing seal (which was to mend whatever it was on, as long as the one that placed it knew what had to be done), which Naruko used as a base for the restoration seal (which was to restore to how something used to be in the past. In essence, it was a time reversal seal).

Naruko looked at the healing seal and examined it with a critical eye. Her Uzumaki self immediately cringed at how basic the seal was. That in itself wasn't the problem, the problem was the fact that this was brought on important missions and - sometimes - a battlefield. Shaking her head, Naruto gave the seal the stink eye, but proceeded to break apart the construct anyway. 

Naruko had to break down the whole seal to understand the function of each part of the seal. From there, she could take whichever parts were necessary and apply them together to make the Restoration Seal. For hours (even into the night, which she lit a small gas lamp for a light source), Naruko proceeded to deconstruct the very basic (in her eyes) Healing Seal and reconstruct its remaining components to makes something new. Only, each time the seal made sure Naruko knew she was doing it wrong, whether that be by blowing up in her face, injuring her somehow, or just not working. This was evidenced by the face that Naruko's hands were red and burnt, some cuts here and there on her face and the completely pissed off expression she wore. 

" **Go to sleep, Kit. You can torment yourself over this tomorrow.** " With a low growl, Naruko stuffed the paper into her backpack's storage seal, blew the gas lamp out, and lay down on the branch like a cat. She knew she'd be completely fine, since her body had learned not to move while she slept (you could barely even see her chest rising and falling as she breathed even when you focused on her). This was something she'd learned a few years ago after being booted out of the orphanage and forced to grow up on the streets, where she'd picked up on multiple things (how to get away with swiping basic necessities from people or market stands, sleeping motionlessly so that people wouldn't pay attention to you, or making yourself unnoticeable even in a small crowd were prime examples). 

Naruko's eyes closed and she quickly fell asleep, all the activity from the day catching up to her. Just as she slipped into unconsciousness, her mind decided to plague her with one last reminder: _I forgot to write to Sasuke._


	3. Chapter Two

Naruko woke from her body jolting. Her body jolted and flinched at the small scare, which caused her to tip over the edge of the branch. Within a second, the fatigue cleared and a yelp escaped her as she clung to the branch like a koala. She then manage to scramble her way back onto the thick branch. _I'm going to murder Sasuke!_ Naruko sneered at the thought, then sighed. She reached over to her where she'd put the seal and input some of her chakra, receiving a piece of paper in return. 

"Let's see here..." Naruko murmured, her eyes scanning over the letter. Kurama began to cackle once he'd read the letter and felt the anger and frustration his host was beginning to feel at her brother in all but blood. 

Naruko clenched her fist tightly and the piece of paper in it crumpled up. She gritted her teeth and practically growled. Then, in a split second, her anger completely disappeared and her emotions left her expression after a small sigh, morphing into a calm look while her presence became a beacon for others to get the hell out of her way, lest they die a horrible and painful death.

"I'm going to kill him." She said quietly and calmly after a minute of silence. Kurama nearly flinched - nearly! The mostly-blonde-haired girl then fished around her supplies, finding what she was looking for - the Hiraishin Marker. Writing a note to tell Sasuke to attach it himself, she quickly put a copy of it into the seal and swung her leg back and forth as she waited for a response. A minute or so later, she received confirmation from her surrogate brother. Naruko immediately Hiraishined to the raven-haired boy.

Upon the mostly-blonde girl's arrival in the boy's hospital room, she whacked him across the head. Hard. 

"Itai!" Sasuke immediately exclaimed in pain, hands flying to clutch his throbbing head, the hit making him lose focus for a moment or two. He opened his previously tightly-shut eyes and gave a small glare to his surrogate sister, only to immediately flinch and lean away at the look on her face.

"Are you an idiot?!" Naruko screeched, preparing to hit him again. Sasuke flinched when he heard the crack of her knuckles. 

"Naruko! Naruko! Wait! Don't hit me!" Sasuke rushed in an attempt to prevent the girl from hitting his head once again, lest she crack his skull. Kurama merely grimaced silently, making a mental note to hold off on teaching her about chakra-enhanced attacks. 

"And why should I do that when I clearly need to fix the screws that have come loose?" Naruko asked with an innocent smile. Sasuke tensed immediately, managing to stop himself from flinching. He had to choose his next words very carefully, lest he get punched into next week. At his silence, Naruko's smile widened.

"Ah, I have a plan! I have a plan!" Sasuke exclaimed in a panic, deciding in that split second that being vaguely honest would be the best course of action. In the end, it simply spared him being hit as hard as the first time, which was as good as he would get.

"I got that, idiot. Why on earth would you ever want to do this?" Naruko asked, now calm. She sat on his hospital bed and watched him with sharp eyes. Looking down, Sasuke explained.

"If I act like I hate Nii-chan, then that'll throw everyone for a loop. If I act like I hate everyone and everything, nobody will get close to me, so I won't make any connections to this village. If I act like I'm revenge-driven, people will understand if I leave the village to 'get power' and 'get revenge' on Nii-chan. This'll also mean that they would be looking in places where I could get power from, instead of Uzushio. If I can successfully do this, then it'll be more understandable to leave the village and become a Missing-Nin." At his sister's silence and thoughtful look, Sasuke gave a sheepish smile. "It means it'll be easier to go to Uzushio and to you. Naruko, if I do this, I effectively cut ties with Konoha and I'm no longer loyal to it. Once I do this, I can become a ninja of Uzushio." Looking at Naruko's conflicted look, Sasuke decided to make one last statement to try and gain her favour. "It also means that, when I do, if Konoha makes demands to get me back, they can't since I'm no longer their ninja." 

"Oh, fine!" Naruko groaned, putting her hands to her face in exasperation. "I don't like this, though. What will you do if you attract the wrong people by doing this?" Naruko asked in concern. "What then?" 

"I'll think of something when that happens." Sasuke explained in a tone that made sure Naruko knew he wasn't blowing off her statement. The eight year-old girl sighed, then snorted lightly at a thought.

"When did you think of this? You woke me up this morning with this plan." Naruko crossed her arms when she also reminded herself of the sudden wake-up call. Sasuke scratched his cheeks with his finger sheepishly, offering her a small smile of apology.

"I kind of...couldn't sleep." Sasuke explained quietly, averting his eyes. "I was too worried about you. That turned into me wanting to follow you, then turned into me thinking of plans and ways to come to you as soon as possible."

"I- Sasuke...!" Naruko exclaimed in frustration, then rubbed the bridge of her nose in exasperation. "I'm so done with you. You're way too protective over me. So, when will you leave the village?" 

"Ah, I'm thinking of leaving either during or after the Chunin Exams are over, when I do them. Then I could always use the excuse of everyone being too strong and this village won't give me the power I need, or use the opposite reason - this village's ninja are too weak and therefore can't give me the power I need." Sasuke smirked in that common Uchiha way, and Naruko found herself smiling slightly. 

"Geez, Sasuke. You really put a lot of thought into this." She smiled at her surrogate brother. "When do you get discharged? You've been in here for about a week, now, haven't you?" Naruko suddenly asked, her eyes narrowed. "Nothing is wrong with you, is there?!" Her mother-hen mode activated and she began to pat her brother's body to check for any reactions. When all she got was a laugh at her antics, Naruko looked at her brother in suspicion.

"I'm not hurt, I swear. Maybe a slight headache from your punch." Sasuke accused sourly, then snickered. "I'm just not being allowed to leave yet. And I'm kind of glad for that." The raven-haired boy's eyes grew sad and Naruko's whiskered face softened. Right, the only place he has to go right now is back to the compound, where nobody's left. A constant reminder of the people he's lost. 

Naruko reached forward, grasping Sasuke's hand and offering a reassuring squeeze.

"Hey, if you ever need anything, don't be afraid to send me a message. Even if you want to just talk in person, just make sure you ask me to Hiraishin here, okay?" Sasuke shook his head with a smile, knowing she was giving no room for argument.   
  
"Will you draw the seal on me, at least, so that I don't need to attach it each time?" He asked hopefully. Naruko snorted. 

"I don't have ink on me right now." She explained, moving some of her long crimson-tipped blonde hair behind her ear. 

"Ah, there's some in one of the drawers of cupboards! I can't remember which one, but one of the nurses said she'd leave some in case I needed it, or something like that." Naruko smiled and began to search around the white room. She scrunched her face up. These rooms are so depressing. They could add at least one other colour. 

Finding the ink and brush, Naruko returned to Sasuke's bed. 

"Move the hair from your neck. I'm gonna do it there so it's covered." Nodding, Sasuke lifted the hair from his nape, allowing Naruko access to it. "Keep still!" Naruko reminded when he shivered under her.

"I can't help it! It's cold..." He mumbled, nearly shivering again at the coldness of the ink being transferred onto his neck from the brush that was brushing his nape. Once she'd finished, Naruko lightly blew on it. Sasuke's brows furrowed when his arm began to ache. "My arm is starting to hurt, Naruko, has it dried?" 

"Patience, child." Naruko said sagely, then laughed. "Nearly." Once the ink had dried, Naruko tapped Sasuke's arm, who promptly let it fall, in turn, letting his hair cover the Hiraishin Seal. Satisfied, the mostly-blonde girl nodded and moved away. 

Sasuke smiled at his surrogate sister, who returned the expression. His jaw clenched to contain the yawn in him.

"Well, I guess I'll think over the plan and work out whatever needs fixing." Sasuke said, looking at Naruko, who's eyes hardened and a small glare set itself upon her whiskered face.

"You are not going to do anymore thinking, you are going to sleep." Naruko hissed. The mostly-blonde girl stood from the bed and began to walk towards Sasuke. 

"No, no, Naruko. It's better if-"

"You are going to sleep, and that's final." Naruko's words were the last thing Sasuke heard before she hit his pressure point - painfully hard - and knocked him out.

" **I think you nearly snapped his neck or cracked his skull**." Kurama piped up for the first time since the previous evening. 

"Hush, Kurama." Naruko said quietly.

" **You need to pull your blows sometimes, geez.** " 

"Do you _want_ me to go in there and hurt you?" Naruko growled quietly.

" **Dude, I don't even have bones! I'm pure chakra!** "

 _I will find a way!_ Naruko shouted mentally, then exited via window.


	4. Chapter Three

https://ibb.co/mS0tqSb

**^Art by me. 8 year old Naruko and 14 year old Naruko uwu**

**~~~**

Naruko stayed in the shadows of Konoha, searching for one specific person. Where is she? The girl sighed and placed her hair over her left shoulder, ignoring the chattering of the people and the presence of shinobi jumping and running over rooftops. 

" **Where was she when you first met her?** " 

_In the..._ Naruko looked around, sneaking through the village in search of the area. Eventually, finding the area, the mostly-blonde-haired girl grinned. _...The park!_

The park was just that - a park. There was nothing grand about it, other than the fact that it was a very calm and serene area. With a small woody area in one part, small animals like squirrels and birds in the trees, and a small pond in one area, the park was a calm peaceful place that some Naras hung out in to cloud-watch. Otherwise, most of the park was clear with a single path and vibrant green grass that was cut short. There were small trees sprinkled here and there and a few benches lined the sides of the path. The path led to a small playground for the younger generations. Inside the small fenced area was a slide, sand pit and a few more things that would entertain the children of Konoha. 

Naruko's eyes furrowed as she tried to remember whether her target liked to play in the playground, hang out in the woody area, or by the pond. Blinking slowly, Naruko began to walk into the woody area. It was somewhere round here... 

" **What did that tree look like, again?** " Kurama asked slowly. 

_It had some kind of marking, but I can't remember what it was._

" **You'll probably remember when you see it. Can't you just look for her chakra signature?** " The Kyūbi asked slowly, as if Naruko was too dumb to understand. The latter person's eyes narrowed at the tone of voice, then sighed quietly.

 _I don't remember what her signature feels like_. Naruko rebuked.

" **There will be one signature that feels familiar, dumbass.** " Naruko put her hand to her chest in fake shock.

 _How_ dare _you!_ Naruko snickered quietly, then sent a nearly undetectable coating of chakra across the woody area. There were a few familiar signatures, but one seemed to stand out. _There_. She thought to herself. 

Naruko took to the trees and began to jump across them in the direction of the chakra signature. A smile came onto her face when she spotted the mop of bubblegum pink hair and red ribbon.

"Sakura!" She exclaimed to get the girl's attention. Emerald green eyes turned to look at the mostly-blonde girl and a wide smile revealed itself.

Sakura Haruno was a civilian girl that had been put into the academy by her mother. She had bubblegum pink hair that used to cover her forehead, but some words from her best friend had made her move her bangs to frame her face and show her larger-than-normal forehead happily, a dark red ribbon tying it back. Her eyes were a bright emerald green and her complexion was a healthy one. Her clothes consisted of clothes her mother had chosen for her: a red dress with a white floral pattern and blue ninja sandals that revealed her toes. 

Sakura turned around to look at Naruko and a bright smile crossed her face.

"Naruko!" She exclaimed, standing up from her spot under the tree. "I haven't seen you in a while. What's going on?" 

"Ah, of course you'd know." Naruko laughed softly, falling down in front of Sakura and sitting down. "You always were good at reading people." 

"Haha. So, what's up?" Sakura offered a small smile as she waited patiently for Naruko to tell her whatever she wanted to say. Naruko took a deep breath and sighed softly, looking Sakura directly in the eyes. 

"Remember that favour you owed me from a few years ago?" 

"I was wondering when you would think of something." Sakura grinned, remembering the moment she had owed Naruko a favour.

* * * * *

_A six year-old Naruko walked around the village, downcast. She had bruises and cuts that were healing thanks to the Kyūbi, who still did it unwillingly._

Hey, Kyū?

" **The hell do you want, now, brat?** " _The fox growled, irritated from simply talking to the child._

Why do you heal me, even though you hate me? _The Kyūbi let out snort and spoke in an even more angered tone._

" **You really think I have a choice? Your stupid father designed the damn seal like that.** " 

Sorry... _At the heavy exhale she got in response, Naruko let a sad smile cross her face. Her own tenant hated her. Was there anybody who liked her? The Hokage didn't count - he was supposed to like her, due to being the leader of the village._

_Naruko moved her slightly-knotted hair off of her shoulder so that it swung behind her as she walked forward, eyes glued to the floor so that she wouldn't see the hateful stares of her village-mates. But she didn't know what was worse: seeing them, or feeling them. Wanting to get away from the hateful looks, Naruko began to set off towards the park that she had gone to on numerous occasions._

_When she'd arrived, Naruko immediately headed over into the woody area, wanting to hide from everyone and everything. She jumped into the trees and hopped from one to the other, making her way away from the main area of the park. She had to get away. Tears sprung to her blue-violet as the images of the civilians' eyes flashed in her mind, and the feeling of their hate hit her like a chakra-infused punch to the gut._

_Naruko stopped on a tree, hand gripping the bark as she crouched down, hugging her knees, her hand still tightly holding the tree trunk so that she wouldn't fall forward. Naruko tried not to sob, but couldn't stop the tears that feel down her face._

" **Kami, you're pathetic**." _The Kyūbi grunted, a scowl on his face, crimson eyes narrowed in annoyance. Naruko gritted her teeth and formed an unfocused glare, directing her anger at the fox within her._

For _once_ in your life, can you shut up and leave me _alone_?! _Naruko yelled in her mind, angry at the fox. You're made of hate! You can't understand how I feel! The mostly-blonde yelled at him, unknowingly making a small and weak force of Killing Intent being directed at her tenant. The fox, slightly surprised at the child, shut his mouth and simply left her alone._

_In shock at the silence she received, Naruko widened her eyes wide, her damp lashes hitting her brow-bones. A quiet and airy chuckle left her._

_"Ha..." She breathed, a small smile curling up on her whiskered face. More tears fell as she began to laugh harder. A few seconds later and the smile dropped. "Finally...I made him shut up for once...!" Naruko wiped away her tears and simply remained crouched on the branch she was on. After a minute or so of being still, Naruko stood and set off - deeper into the woody area._

_Shortly after beginning her motion of jumping across the tree-branches, Naruko heard a girl's voice shouting and crying._

_"Go away!" She shouted. "Leave me alone!" Naruko tilted her head to the left in curiosity. What's happening? As fast as she could, Naruko travelled in the direction of the voice. Upon arrival, a slight growl escaped her lips - to the amusement of her tenant - when she saw a small group of an older boy and two girls surrounding a defenseless pink-haired girl that was curled up at the base of a thick tree. The girls were sneering at her, hands on hips, as they leaned forward to talk to her, and the boy was smirking, arms crossed while he stood a little bit behind the other two in the centre, looking down on her - literally and figuratively._

_Naruko wasn't aware, but her eyes flashed red for a moment out of anger from the scene her eyes rested on. It reminded her way too much of how her own generation treated her; bullying and belittling, as well as making sure she was aware that she was unwanted._

_Naruko suddenly felt a surge of strength and leaned forward, angling her body to aim at the boy at the back. She focused her newfound strength in her legs and propelled forward at a speed that scared her. Luckily, Naruko managed to hit the boy in the side and, with the sudden strength that propelled her forward, was shot away into a nearby tree, immediately knocking him out. Naruko stumbled when she rose, falling and pushing herself up._ I'll have to ask Jiji about this later. _The mostly-blonde girl shook her head and blinked to clear herself of the dizziness and sudden lightheadedness, turning to face the remaining two girls, who stared at Naruko with horrified faces, their eyes glancing back and forth between the boy and her. Recognition flashed in their eyes and their eyes widened even further - which seemed impossible._

_"It's the demon! Everyone was right! It really is going to kill us! Just look what it did to Kaseki!" One of the girls shouted in fear, taking her friend's arm into her grasp and pulling at it. Naruko decided to do something that had the chance to make her treatment even worse. Stepping closer to the two older girls, Naruko smiled calmly at them._

_"If you tell anyone what happened here, or hurt this girl ever again, I will personally make sure nobody finds your bodies. Tell everyone your age the same thing." She smiled at them, then glared at the girls with hardened eyes. "Now leave." The girls wasted no time in escaping and immediately ran away like hell was chasing them._

_Sighing sadly, Naruko turned to the pink-haired girl and smiled slightly, sitting on the ground in front of her - criss-cross._

_"I'm Naruko." She introduced herself slowly, watching the girl for any signs of hostility; even at the age of six, Naruko had learned to be able to read people and how to tell if they were to be trusted or not. "What's your name?"_

_"I..I'm Sakura. Sakura Haruno." The girl - now dubbed as 'Sakura' - responded, hands still held on her chest nervously. She blinked a few times and glanced at the unconscious body of the boy (named 'Kaseki') before glancing back at Naruko. "Um, th-thank you. But, why did you help me?" She said gently, smiling unsurely at the mostly-blonde girl._

_"It was no problem. Honestly? You reminded me of, well, me." Naruko smiled and gave her a closed-eyed smile._

_"Of..you...?" Sakura mumbled unsurely, furrowing her brows._

_"Yeah. I won't bore you with the 'story of my life'." Forming quotation marks with her fingers, Naruko smiled genuinely, then began to stand up, getting ready to leave. Sakura's eyes showed some desperation and she quickly followed in Naruko's footsteps and rose from the ground like a flash._

_"Wait! You saved me and I owe you a favour, now. Is there anything you want or need?" Sakura asked quickly, moving some of her bubblegum-pink hair out of her face, her emerald eyes trained on Naruko's ready-to-leave form._

_"Uh, I don't have anything I want right now. Can I use your 'debt'-" Naruko did quotation marks with her fingers again as her lips pursed. "-at a later date?" Sakura snorted in amusement and nodded._

_"Sure. A-and one last thing: will I see you again?" Naruko turned away, a sad smile on her lips._

_"You'll see me around Konoha, but don't talk to me in front of others if you don't want to be bullied again."_

_"Wait, what do you mean?" Sakura's brows furrowed in confusion. Naruko aimed her sad smile at the emerald-eyed girl._

_"You'll know when you see the people of this village talk to me. Well-" Naruko waved and turned to leave, ready to begin jumping in the direction of the Hokage Tower. "-see ya."_

_Naruko had already left when Sakura waved with her own quiet goodbye._

* * * * *

Naruko snorted when she remembered how confused she was when she had drawn on Kurama's chakra for the first time in her life (further than changing the colour of her eyes to red) and how much of a jerk the Kyūbi had been to her. 

"So what's the favour you want?" Sakura asked with a smile. Naruko's whiskered cheeks flushed and she rubbed the back of her neck shyly. 

"Well..." Naruko laughed nervously. "I want to ask you to take care of Sasuke." Naruko avoided the girl's amused gaze. 

"Oh?" Sakura asked with a knowing and amused grin. "And, why is that?" 

"Don't look at me like that! And that idiot has a dumb plan made, so I need someone to watch him and take care of him to make sure he doesn't get hurt, or something." 

"Okay, I won't pry into the details, but I need to ask what the plan is." Sakura grinned cheekily. Naruko shot her a look.

"He's going to act like everyone and everything is beneath him, and he doesn't care about anyone but himself and power. Basically, he's going to act like a stuck-up Uchiha brat." Naruko hissed out, glaring at the ground. She didn't like the way he would treat everyone, but she would bare with it if it meant they could be together in the coming years. Sakura laughed and smiled brightly at Naruko, tightening the ribbon that kept her hair back and showed off her larger-than-normal forehead. 

"Okay, I know what I'm gonna do." Sakura informed, her eyes twinkling in amusement. A sudden pit of dread appeared in Naruko's stomach and she narrowed her blue-and-violet eyes in suspicion. 

"What will you do...?" She asked hesitantly. "...Do I even want to know?" Sakura grinned cheekily and looked at Naruko with mischievously. 

"Probably not - I'm gonna act like on of the multiple fan-girls he has!" Naruko face-falted and suddenly found herself glaring at Sakura in shock.

"Are you serious?!" Naruko screeched, worried for the girl's mental health.

"Yep!" Sakura chirped with a bright smile. Naruko slapped a hand to her face, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration. 

"This is a village of idiots." She murmured to herself, groaning. "Can I ask why?" 

"Well, if I act like a fan-girl, I can watch Sasuke without being questioned if I'm up to some criminal act, or something." Sakura reasoned. Naruko sighed and nodded.

"Fine, but I'm placing a seal on you." The mostly-blonde huffed in defeat. The bubblegum-pink-haired girl nodded slowly.

"Seal? As in those designs that ninja have?"

"Yeah. The one I'm gonna put on you will let us send things to each other - like letters or supplies." 

"Okay. Can I choose where I have it?" Naruko nodded in confirmation and Sakura thought for a moment. 

"It would be best if it was hidden." The whiskered girl piped up. The emerald-eyed girl hummed in thought, then began to take her left shoe off. 

"On my ankle?" Naruko nodded and began to draw the strokes for her seal after telling Sakura how to place her chakra into the ink (the girl had to teach the pink-haired eight year-old how to channel her chakra, as they were still in their first year and hadn't begun to do chakra exercises and such, just yet). 

Once everything was done, Naruko told Sakura how the seal functioned - in brief - and began to do hand-signs so that she could return to her backpack's placement. 

"Thank you, Sakura." The girl nodded with a gentle smile.

"No problem, Naruko." 

Naruko left to return to her spot beside the ruins of Uzushio via Hiraishin.


	5. Chapter Four

Now ten years old, Naruko was about a month away from having her seal complete the rebuilding of Uzushiogakure, and Kurama had just finished the lessons and training that he could give in the present moment. He had explained that until Naruko reached a certain point with her chakra, chakra control, strength and abilities, he would train her further. Despite this fact, however, Naruko was a low-jounin-level kunoichi. The mostly-blonde-haired ten year-old had agreed and decided to gather refugees or anyone she wanted to join the now-rebuilt Uzushio; there were already a few people living in the village. The residents of Uzushio currently consisted of two couples and three jounin-level shinobi. One of the couples had a child that was also ten years-old and Naruko found herself hanging out with the other girl. 

When Naruko had first arrived at Uzushio, the sudden connection to the village and the life in and around it had overwhelmed her, and she had been off-balance for a few weeks, before it began to mellow down into something she could mostly tune out. Now, Naruko had control over how strongly in-tune she was with the land and more often than not used it to locate the current residents. She could even feel how alive they or any other organisms were - like crops, for example. The current residents also recognised Naruko for who she was - the one to become Uzukage when she would come of age - and had begun to add '-sama' to her name, much to her embarrassment. 

Naruko could currently be found running down the stone streets of the rebuilt Uzushio ruins, in search of the only other child her age. They were currently playing hide-and-seek like a normal ten year-old should. Kurama was thankful for the other girl that made sure Naruko acted like the child she was sometimes (as were the other residents). 

"C'mon, Akari! Where are you?" Naruko called with a grin, knowing fully that the other girl wouldn't respond. Naruko was tempted to use her connection with the land to find her, but Akari had made sure she promised not to do so, and Naruko never broke a promise unless she absolutely had to. Naruko's ears suddenly picked up the quiet sound of giggling and a grin broke out across her whiskered face. Naruko immediately began to run to where the sound came from. The moment she rounded the corner, a cheer left her. "I found you!" 

"Dammit, Naruko!" Akari exclaimed, pouting as she folded her arms.

Akari was ten years old and was four-foot-seven - three inches taller than Naruko. She had light brown hair that reached her shoulders, with two bangs framing her face on the sides and a fringe falling to her left bang. She wore a greyish-blue sleeveless turtleneck that ended just above her bellybutton and black skin-tight shorts, along with a pair of blue shinobi sandals that revealed her heels and toes. With a slightly-tanned complexion, her pale green eyes stood out. 

Naruko grinned and put her hands on her hips, another victorious laugh leaving her as she looked at her friend.

"I win again!" The mostly-blonde cheered. Akari huffed and crossed her arms, then looked back at Naruko with a curious look.

"How do you find me this time?" She asked.

"I heard you laughing!" Naruko grinned cheekily. Akari looked at the blue-eyed girl incredulously.

"That's not fair! You have heightened senses because of Kurama-sensei!" 

" **Hear that, Naruko? Sensei. Kurama..sensei**." Kurama spoke smugly in Naruko's mind. 

_Yeah, I'm not calling you that._

" **Dammit...!** "

Akari then took Naruko by the arm and began to drag her back to the centre of the village where the small group of residents had themselves temporarily situated. She headed over to where she and her parents were staying and dragged Naruko inside, the latter girl automatically shutting the door.

"I'm home!" Akari exclaimed to let her parents know she was there. "And I brought Naruko with me!"

The brunette dragged her friend to her bedroom upstairs and pushed her onto the bed. Akari then sat down beside her and smiled sadly. 

"Akari?" Naruko asked softly, seeing the sadness in her friend. She reached forward to grasp and gently squeeze her hand comfortingly. "You okay?" Akari squeezed back and looked up at Naruko from her lap.

"I'm gonna miss you." The brunette spoke softly, tears coming to her eyes. The mostly-blonde girl nodded silently, her other hand coming to hold the one in her other hand. Two sets of teary eyes met and the two ten year-olds hugged.

"Kami, these next two years are gonna be hell." Naruko murmured, holding onto Akari tightly. The brunette reciprocated and the two parted after a moment. 

"When you come back, the first thing you need to do is come see me." Akari instructed in a tone that left no room for argument. Naruko readily agreed and both interlocked their pinkies to solidify the promise. 

That night, Naruko had a meal with Araki and her parents for the last time for the next two years. It was a quiet, but emotional night. However, there were no tears - just the comforting presence of the people in the room. No words needed to be said. Their expressions and actions said everything they wanted to say: I love you and I'm going to miss you. 

* * * * *

Naruko stood at the gates of Uzushio, hands on the two straps of her backpack. Tears coated the surface of her eyes, but didn't fall. Despite the sadness she felt, a smile rested on her whiskered face. She faced the eight people she would be leaving for two years and felt a deep sense of sadness overwhelm her. These people were the only ones that were in her clan's home village and therefore were part of her family - maybe not by blood, but by relations. 

"Hitoshi." Naruko called. The shinobi looked at her, standing straighter. This was his future Uzukage and even if she wasn't yet of age or completely prepared to be a leader, he would listen to and put her orders first and foremost. 

"Yes, Naruko-sama?" He asked immediately, looking down at her. At the slight shake of her head and amused smile, he relaxed slightly. Naruko walked forward and patted the side of his arm with her right hand and gave him a smile that said all she wanted to convey: I trust you.

"I put you in charge, all right?" The mostly-blonde girl smiled gently and locked eyes with the man that was twice her age, and then some. 

"Yes. I won't let you down." The man spoke softly to the ten year-old girl.

"I know you won't. Make sure everyone's okay for me, will ya?" Naruko grinned when Hitoshi smiled at her as he placed his hand on her shoulder.

"You'll make a fine leader some day, Naruko-sama." The girl's whiskered cheeks flushed in embarrassment at the praise and she huffed and quickly turned around, cheeks red. 

When Naruko once again reached the gates of Uzushio, she turned her face to the side to send one last glance at the eight people and looked at each person one-by-one. Her electric blue eyes lingered on Akari and both smiled to each other. Akari waved her hand to give a small wave with a teary-eyed smile. Naruko reciprocated, then turned around, swallowing the lump in her throat.

" **You need to do this, Kit**." Kurama murmured to the ten year-old in her mind.

_I know. It's just...hard._

Naruko walked forward, leaving the eight residents in the seal-protected village for the next two years. 

"You ready, Kit?" Naruko looked into the trees that were about a five minute walk away and a smile crossed her whiskered face, blue-and-violet eyes shone with determination:

"Let's do this."


	6. Chapter Five

Naruko jumped through the trees, making sure she concealed her immense chakra. 

"I really should either find or make a chakra suppression seal.." She murmured to herself. Kurama snorted in her mind.

As an Uzumaki and the Jinchūriki of the Kyūbi (the strongest Tailed Beast), Naruko was practically a beacon made of chakra. Even before she began training and expanding her reserves, the girl had high-jounin-level chakra reserves. Then, when she began to train, they were boosted exponentially. For the last two years, Naruko's reserves were just under Kage-level. Every day she had to keep up with chakra control excercises to accommodate for her new and increasing chakra reserves. 

Naruko and Kurama had been travelling together for just over half a year. They had just crossed the border into the Wind Country and were making their way over to the Shinobi Village that housed the Ichibi Jinchuuriki. The Kyūbi had warned her that the container may be slightly unstable due to his brother's influence. This had infuriated the girl when she learned that it was due to the poorly-constructed seal that kept the Bijū in his container. Her first thought had made a surge of amusement go through her own tenant, with it having been: ' _If you're gonna make someone's life hell, at least do it right!'_. 

Kurama opened his eyes and blinked when he faintly saw the walls of Sunagakure in the horizon, then exhaled softly in amusement when he felt how the heat of the desert was making his host annoyed and tired. 

" **If you hurry up now, then you can make it to Suna within the next hour or so**." Kurama offered to the girl who had put her hair up into a high ponytail, which was now being pushed by the wind blowing it back. 

"Right. I'll-" Naruko was cut off when she accidentally inhaled some sand that had been picked up in the air. She stopped and bent over with her hands on her knees, coughing. _Damn sand! I swear to Kami!_ Naruko was even more irritated when she heard Kurama cackling deep in her mindscape. She grit her teeth and growled lightly. Kurama kept laughing for a few more seconds, before it began to fade into an amused smirk. 

Naruko then caught her breath and stood up straight, squinting at the village in the horizon. She crouched down, making sure to use a consistent amount of chakra to prevent herself from sinking into the golden sand, and directed a large amount of chakra _into_ her feet. She managed to push chakra _into_ her feet and waited until she felt a slight numbing sensation in her feet that indicated she had a little bit too much chakra stored within the limbs. At that point Naruko crouched down even more, leaning forward onto the balls of her feet with her arms back. She imagined holding onto a bar made from chakra that was behind her to keep her from falling victim to gravity. Naruko then imagined two tiny holes opening up on the back of the soles of her feet and one in the centre of her heels, and felt the chakra that she'd stored in her feet began to slowly begin to seep out in miniscule amounts. Naruko closed her eyes, then exclaimed in surprise and sudden fear (as well as slight pain) when the sudden gust of wind hit her face and the soles of her feet stung from the sudden explosion of chakra that propelled her forward at extremely high speeds. _Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!_ _Shit!_ Naruko swore in her mind when Sunagakure was rapidly drawing closer.

About halfway to the village, Naruko began to slow down and the sudden decrease in speed made her lose her balance. A second or two later, the blonde exclaimed in surprise when she suddenly tumbled onto the sand and curled up into a ball on reflex. She tumbled forward in a ball, getting sand on her and in her hair. Once she'd stopped, she spat out the few grains that got in her mouth and wiped off the ones that got on her face, then used a simple water jutsu to get rid of any residual sand, then a wind one to dry herself.

" **I don't think this was the place to try that**." Kurama commented, a snort being a substitute of a laugh.

" _You don't say!_ " Naruko shouted out in irritation, then looked up at the village that was now much closer to her. "So.."

 _Do we sneak in, or go in legally?_ The mostly-blonde then felt her tenant grin and sit up in his sudden odd excitement. 

" **Sneak! Sneak! Sneak! Sneak! Sneak! Sneak! Sneak!** " The Kyūbi chanted, his nine tails swishing in a sudden energetic manner. Naruko pinched the bridge of her nose in amused irritation at the childish Bijū, then proceeded to fish around her backpack. The girl then picked out a piece of paper and kneeled over on one knee and began to draw with the ink brush she'd taken out from a storage steal in her backpack. Once done, she made another - smaller - seal in the middle of the back of the piece of paper, and held it to her skin. After a few seconds, she felt the tingle that indicated it had completed its purpose and stood, her backpack once again on her back, a steady flow of chakra being poured into the seal. 

When she was close enough for the seal to work on the two guard in the large ravine-like entrance, Naruko's blue-and-violet eyes narrowed and she quickly ran faster so that the two guard wouldn't find it suspicious that their senses had suddenly become muddled. The mostly-blonde-haired girl hadn't yet advanced this seal to be able to alter a person's senses yet - the only thing it could do for now was muddle an unsuspecting person's senses. The circular area of impact would depend solely on a person's chakra reserves. Due to the only thing the seal could do being a muddle of the senses, after a few seconds the receiver of the muddling would notice their senses were being messed with and would be able to cancel it out in the same way they would cancel out a jonin-level Genjutsu. 

Naruko hurried through the darkness of the ravine-like entrance and quickly stopped most of the chakra that was being channelled into the seal and immediately felt the barrier shrink tremendously to the point where it was now only two-arms-length away. Now, the barrier would serve to prevent people from being able to focus on her and make it seem like the desert heat was causing a mirage. 

Naruko took to the sandstone roofs and looked around. The sun was going to set soon and Naruko was having slight trouble seeing because of the light off to the side impairing her usually-perfect vision. She huffed in frustration. 

_Kurama. The Jinchūriki can't sleep, right?_ Naruko asked the Kyūbi, jumping down into an alley, her feet making no sound against the solid ground. 

" **Yes. It's due to the way the seal was designed. He can't sleep without risking setting Shukaku free**." 

_Then I will look for him when everyone is asleep. It'll be easier that way._

" **And you call _me_ lazy**." Kurama grumbled, putting his head on his paws. 

_Oh, hush. It's just practical common sense._

The mostly-blonde girl made a few hand-signs and then her body was surrounded by a small amount of smoke. _Damn, if only there wasn't any smoke._ Naruko then looked down at her appearance and nodded in satisfaction, then reached for the seal on her body and removed it, using a low-level fire jutsu to turn it into ashes.

Naruko's crimson-tipped blonde hair was now a sandy blonde that reached her shoulders instead of her waist. A fringe covered her forehead and two small bangs framed her face. The eyes that were previously blue and fading into violet at the bottom were now a light brown. Her skin remained the same tanned complexion, but her cheeks had their whiskers removed. Her clothes went from the dark orange kimono to a beige-coloured skin-tight sleeveless crop top that had a thick red line going down the middle and a slightly-darker pair of beige skin-tight shorts that ended at her mid-thighs. The shorts had a thick block of dark red in the middle. On her hands were black finger-less gloves that finished at her wrists and brown shinobi sandals with a closed heel and open toes covered her feet. Finally, her appearance went from the ten year-old girl that had jumped into the dark alley, to a young twenty-something that was now leaving that same dark alley.

" **So...what's your temporary name?** " Kurama asked within the girl's mind. Naruko paused in her step, looking down at her feet. She tried to think of some random name that would be generic enough that she'd be able to blend into the village that she'd never been to before. 

_It's..uh..it's..Ha..Hana...!_

" **Isn't that the name of that Inuzuka brat's older sister?** " Kurama asked in disbelief. 

_It's supposed to be generic, isn't it?!_ Naruko exclaimed in her mind as if the fox had personally offended the girl, her body beginning to walk down the sandstone roads. The Kyūbi's only response was a heavy exhale through his nose. Naruko exhaled victoriously. 

A few minutes later, Naruko - Hana - ended up in front of a bar. She looked at the sun and saw that it wasn't going to be sunset for another few hours. The now-sandy-blonde haired girl stepped inside through the wooden flap-like doors and looked around. There were a few middle-aged men and women and three or four people that were around her henge's age. Most were civilian people. 

Hana stepped inside and sat at the bar, looking at the man behind the counter. The brunette, brown-eyed man stopped cleaning the glass and began to look at the young female newcomer. He stepped up in front of the woman and let a small smile grace his face.

"Can I get you anything, ma'am?" He asked. Hana nodded and let a smile of her own come onto her tanned face. 

"I'll just have a water, thank you." She spoke quietly to the man. He nodded and turned around to get a glass from the shelf.

"Is tap water okay?" Hana nodded to the man and smiled when he handed her the glass of water.

When she finished, she handed the glass back to the man. Hana looked around and noticed a pool table in the corner. She walked closer to it and began to look at the scattered balls. Using her extremely limited knowledge of how they were supposed to be ordered, Hana began to move the balls into a triangular shape. Her eyebrow raised when she noticed a mostly-sober man that looked to be around her henge's age walking up to her.

"You can play?" Hana smiled and shook her head.

"No. I'm just bored."

"How about I teach you, and then we can play?" The man offered with a smile.

"I have to warn you, I'm a fast learner." Hana grinned. 

The man chuckled and extended his hand, "I'm Sam."

Hana shook his hand, "Hana."


	7. Chapter Six

Night fell and nearly everyone had gone to sleep. Hana had just finished defeating Sam (who had flirted a few times) in another round of pool. 

"Ah, you beat me again." Sam scratched the back of his head with a smile, then glanced back up at Hana. "You sure you've never played?" 

Shaking her head, Naruko said: "Nah, this is the first time I've ever played." 

"You play like a pro." Sam smiled, taking the wooden pool cues and putting them to the side.

"Thanks." Hana smiled back, finishing her self-assigned job of putting the sixteen balls in the right pattern inside the plastic triangle. The sandy-blonde girl then stepped up to Sam and looked up at him, due to the man being half a head taller than her henge. Hana smiled and moved to stand on her toes, moving her face up to the man's. She then kissed his cheek and moved back, jumping onto one foot with a bright smile. "You're a sweet man, Sam." 

"I-I-" Sam stuttered intelligently, cheeks flushing red. 

"I gotta go." Hana smiled at the flustered man, then turned to the door. She turned to look back at man. "Bye, Sam." 

"Bye...!" Sam quickly called after gathering himself. 

When Hana exited the bar, she calmly walked over to a nearby alley and put her hands together in a hand-sign. Hana was covered by a small explosion of thick smoke and - when it cleared - it revealed the shorter ten year-old girl with crimson-tipped blonde hair standing in the woman's place. Naruko exhaled softly, then looked around. 

_Think everyone is asleep by now?_ Naruko asked Kurama, sitting down on the ground. 

" **I don't know.** " The Kyūbi said with an annoyed tone of voice. " **Maybe. Just spread a thin layer of your chakra and you should be able to feel if they are, or not.** " 

_Did you miss nap-time, or something? You're a lot more irritated than usual._

" **I'll talk to you later about it.** " The fox grumbled from within the depths of her mindscape. Naruko's blue-and-violet eyes narrowed suspiciously. 

The mostly-blonde girl then shook her head to clear it of its thoughts and closed her bright eyes. She spread her chakra around the large village and looked for the largest chakra signature. Upon discovering the one tails' worth of chakra, Naruko's eyes snapped open and a small smile rested on her face. _He's alone. That'll make this easier._

Naruko walked through alleys and in the shadows of buildings and stores, slowly making her way to the cleared out area where the Ichibi Junchūriki remained. 

"Huh?" The mostly-blonde-haired girl murmured intelligently in surprise when her eyes saw the boy that sat against the sandstone-brick wall. "He's my age...!" She whispered loudly in shock.

The boy had messy red hair. His seafoam coloured eyes watched the night sky above him, his inability to sleep evident by the extremely dark - almost completely black - rings around his eyes. He also wore a black full-body suit, his t-shirt-like sleeves reaching just before his forearms and letting the sleeves of a mesh shirt creep down to his elbows. The pant legs were shinobi-style-like and bandages covered his shins, then disappeared into blue shinobi sandals. A white cloth reached over his right shoulder to his left hip. A thick and wide leather strap hung from his left shoulder to his right hip and there was a large gourd attached to it - most likely filled with sand (Naruko could feel a small amount of chakra inside the gourd and chalked it up to being chakra-infused sand). There was a hitai-ate with Sunagakure's symbol attached to the base of the strap.

The boy's arms were crossed behind his head and he lay on the sandy ground, simply staring at the stars in the night sky, the cold breeze causing a shiver to run through Naruko's body and goosebumps appeared on her naturally-slightly-tanned skin. She tugged her dark orange and dark red kimono tighter to her to try and get warmer, then exclaimed in surprise and shock when she was suddenly swept off her feet and hung upside down in front of the redhead. She winced and pulled a face when she felt the thick chakra-infused sand tighten around her ankle. _That's definitely going to leave a bruise._ She then blinked slowly, hissing when the grip tightened. _Maybe even a slight bone injury-_

"Who are you?" The redhead's low voice asked, standing and crossing his arms in an annoyed manner. His voice was monotonous, but Naruko could sense the slightest bit of curiosity. 

"I'm Naruko! Naruko Uzumaki! What's your name?" She smiled brightly, whiskered cheeks and nose tinging pink from the cold. She blinked slowly upon noticing the kanji for 'love' on the boy's forehead. _Did he do that to himself?_

"And, why should I trust you?" He asked, a brow raised. Naruko paused for a moment, then moved her limp arms to fold over her chest instead of simply swinging downward and becoming numb. 

"Because I'm like you." The mostly-blonde smiled gently at him, pale green eyes meeting eyes that went from blue at the top to a violet at the bottom. Naruko blinked and furrowed her brows. "Think you can let me down? I'm getting dizzy." 

"...Fine." 

Naruko exclaimed when she fell head-first onto the ground and gave a small glare at the redhead that had just dropped her mercilessly. 

"What?" He asked, giving her an unimpressed look. "Would you rather I crush your leg?" 

"Okay, it'd be _lovely_ if you had just a little bit less attitude, _okay_?" Naruko crossed her arms after getting up, ignoring the slowly-disappearing stinging and burning in her leg. "Now, what's your name?" Naruko asked after sighing softly to calm herself down.

"...Gaara. What do you want?" He asked, more annoyance making its way to the forefront of his words.

"Listen here, buddy. I don't like you either, but I want to make an alliance with you. I'm doing the same with all the other Jinchūriki. Do you agree to the alliance?" 

"Gaara?" A soft female voice asked quietly from the other side of the area. Naruko stiffened and then turned around to see a sandy-blonde girl with four spike pigtails. When teal eyes met blue-and-violet ones, the former hardened and a glare set on the girl's face. "Who are you?" 

"Dammit." Naruko hissed under her breath. "First, who are you?"

"Temari." Gaara supplied from behind Naruko, eyebrow raised at her small act of trust. If the girl trusted him enough to point her back to him, then he could at the very least give him the name and identity of the girl. "She's my older sister." 

"Gaara!" She exclaimed, then looked back at Naruko.

Without warning, Temari charged forward, a small fan in hand, completely open. Naruko added some chakra to her feet and jumped up to avoid the wind blade. She let out a small exclamation when the wind blade shot up and followed her. _I need to cancel it out! Argh, I'm gonna do this and then hide until the next night!_

"Wind Style: Breakthrough!" Naruko inhaled deeply and angled it so her body remained horizontal. She blew the gust of wind down at the jutsu and panted when she finished. A loud bang sounded and sand blew around the area. _Crap._

Naruko landed on the ground in a crouch, her natural sensory telling her that shinobi were currently making their way over to the clearing. She didn't rise from her crouched position immediately, focusing on those in the area and whoever was making their way over. There were around twenty shinobi making their way over, about four of those being Anbu and most being chunin and jonin. Naruko gritted her teeth and noted that they were fast - the Anbu being faster than she could go. 

The blonde bent over in her crouched position and began to draw on the Kyūbi's chakra. A coating of red chakra surrounded her body and her features became more feral. Naruko's canines elongated, her whiskers thickened, her eyes became red and slitted and the crimson tips on her blonde hair crept upwards to colour a little bit more of her hair. She began to growl slightly and Temari stepped back in shock.

Gaara froze at the feeling and suddenly felt that he needed to back away and give up. He felt the need to submit to the girl and his expression showed it. The sand around him seemed to stop and pooled around him on the floor submissively. 

Naruko's feet dug into the ground from the force and when she suddenly shot away in a yellow and red blur, Gaara and Temari were forced to cover their faces to protect them from the sand and wind covering the whole area. The ground cracked from the force of the girl's chakra and another _boom_ sounded around the area. Temari then inhaled from the stinging feeling in her lungs telling her they needed oxygen, and snapped out of her frozen state. The blonde turned to her ten year-old brother and quickly ran towards him, a quiet ' _G_ _aara_!' escaping her. When she reached a certain point, his sand raised to block her from coming nearer and she frowned in frustration. 

"Gaara! Snap out of it!" Gaara then bent over and his pale hands flew to clutch his head, gripping his crimson locks. A bloodcurdling scream escaped him as the sand seemed to surround the boy in a container and muffle his screams. Shinobi entered the area and Temari quickly explained what happened from her entrance to the moment the girl ran away from them, as well as give them a description of what she looked like so that the Suna nin can watch out for her. 

Elsewhere, Naruko stood, bent over and panting. Sweat coated her forehead and her throat was dry. Her hands clutched her knees and, after a few seconds, she collapsed. _Dammit, why aren't I healing?!_

" **Sorry, Kit**." Kurama quickly apologised. " **It's cause my chakra was the one that caused the injury, so it'll heal a lot slower than normal. All you can do right now is rest**." The fox explained. Naruko groaned. 

_Will Medical Jutsu not work?_ Naruko questioned sitting down in the most comfortable way she could in her current predicament. 

" **No. It's demonic chakra, so regular chakra won't do anything. Maybe it'll make it worse - I don't know**." 

Big help you were. Naruko gurmbled. _So why were you irritated earlier?_ Naruko asked softly, lightly massaging her legs that had slight muscle tearing from the Kyūbi's chakra. Kurama exhaled heavily and growled lightly. 

" **Don't go kissing people, even when in henge**." 

That's _what it was?!_ Naruko exclaimed incredulously, whiskered cheeks becoming slightly pink. _The guy was sweet! He was_ trying _! And it was only on the cheek!_

Kurama snorted, " **He was most definitely a ten-out-of-ten, then**." The large fox grumbled sarcastically.

 _He deser-! Wait, ten-out-of-ten for what?_ Naruko was curious, yet cautious. 

**"Duh, how desperate he is. The guy probably hasn't been laid for a long while**." 

_Kurama! Don't be rude! And when did you become my father?!_

" **Dunno. Now, get to sleep, Kit. I'll keep watch and take over for you if you need to run**."

_Thanks._


	8. Chapter Seven

When the next night came, Naruko's legs were mostly-healed. They were still sore, though, due to her having to move around a few times to evade the shinobi looking for her. The mostly-blonde knew she would be in trouble if she had to run away from the Suna shinobi in her current injured state. 

Naruko spread a minuscule amount of chakra into the area around her and used her sensory to make her way back to the redheaded Jinchūriki. The crimson-tipped-blonde-haired girl slipped in through alleys and shadows, keeping her senses alert for any of the shinobi around her. 

After a while, the ten year-old jumped up onto a tree and huffed quietly in frustration when she saw the amount of shinobi around one of the houses. _Dammit. I should've finished that seal. There's too many to simply muddle their senses. I need to be careful._

" **What's your plan?** " Kurama asked the girl. 

_I..._ Naruko's blue-and-violet eyes darted around to look at each highly-vigilant shinobi watching the premises. _...have no idea..._

Naruko sighed softly, then sat down on the branch, sticking the piece of paper with her work-in-progress seal on her. The mostly-blonde girl kept her eyes peeled and senses alert for any danger or changes in Gaara's positioning. 

_I think I'll wait for the day and see if I can take my chances with there being less security._

" **I think that's fair.** " 

* * * * *

When the sun rose, Naruko stood on the branch and looked around. Just as she had hoped for, there were less shinobi now that the sun was back out and it would be harder to hide from them. The original ten-or-so shinobi that had been guarding the Jinchūriki had lessened to about three and the ten year-old girl could sense both Temari and Gaara inside the room in front and to the right of her. She could also sense a shinobi inside the room with them and clicked her tongue in annoyance. 

Naruko sighed and tilted forward, aiming for the small gap the window gave (she was suddenly grateful for her small stature, much to Kurama's amusement). She lunged forward and landed in a roll, rolling once, then standing up on her two short legs. She used her sensory to find where the shinobi's exact placement was in the room. The young girl's mind quickly formed a strategy that would enable her to sneak in and knock out the shinobi, then let her stop Temari before she could even do anything. It relied heavily on her chakra control. Naruko was suddenly thankful for the hellish training regimes that Kurama had put her through. 

Naruko took in a deep breath, then exhaled softly and looked at the door. She was thankful that there was no-one in the halls since she would have one chance to do this before more shinobi would be called - she would then have to injure herself again to get away. Naruko kept her sensory to the max and began to pool the chakra necessary for the next jutsu she would be making.

_Wind Style: Air Bullets!_

Out of the mostly-blonde girl's life came out wind compacted into tiny bullets. They shot forward at amazing speeds and lodged themselves in the legs and arms of the shinobi in the room as well as Temari, rendering them both motionless. Naruko walked into the room, knocked out the shinobi, and looked at Gaara, who simply stared back, his seafoam green eyes blinking slowly. 

"You never answered my question, Gaara." Naruko said to him. 

Temari groaned and attempted to move her body. "Get the hell away from him!" 

"Temari, right?" The ten year-old questioned the sandy-blonde, who simply glared. "I'll take that as a yes. Listen, I'm another Jinchūriki - just like your brother. I'm going to those like us to get their alliance if any of us are ever in trouble." 

The sandy-blonde haired girl paused for a moment, staring at the floor in silent thought. Naruko could see the fight in her slowly fading away. She then looked up at the brighter-haired younger female with a stern gaze. "Which village are you from?" 

"Originally? Konoha. But, now, I'm building my own village." She paused, then corrected herself: "Actually, it's more like _re_ -building." 

Temari turned to Gaara. "You despise this village don't you?" The redheaded younger boy raised a non-existent brow as he silently watched his older sister. "I think you should leave with her."

"Huh?!" Naruko exclaimed in shock, eyes widened. "You have _got_ to be kidding me! There's no way!" She protested.

"This village hates and fears him. Our own father sends Anbu to try and kill him. He's-"

"I get it..." Naruko sighed, looking down sadly. "You wanna come, Gaara?" She asked quietly. The redhead glanced at her, crossing his arms and closing his eyes for a moment, then nodded slowly.

"Sure, I guess. Why not?" He spoke quietly, the boredom clear on his face. 

_Oh, Kami give me patience, but not strength._

Naruko exhaled softly. "Okay. Okay, that's fine. Your attitude needs to get better, though." She gave him a small glare. 

Smiling mockingly, Gaara spoke quietly. "You trying to threaten me is adorable." 

Naruko sighed gustily and moved back to the doorway, annoyance coming off of her in waves. "Come on. Let's go."

The mostly-blonde heard Temari sigh softly in relief once Gaara followed her back to the window. The two ten year-olds jumped through the window and onto the practically-dead tree. Gaara turned back to look at the building one last time, then continued to follow the girl that was obviously superior at sensory. The two made their way to an alleyway and sat on the ground.

"What are we doing?" 

"We're waiting for night to fall." Naruko informed, keeping her senses acutely aware with her eyes closed. She then opened them, looking straight at the redhead before her. He sat with crossed arms and legs. His sea-foam green eyes watched the girl that was a few months younger with an emotionless gaze. "You hungry?" 

"I suppose so." He tilted his head to the side slightly. Naruko reached into her backpack and pulled out a few protein bars. Gaara raised a nonexistent brow. "A protein bar?"

"I have food pills, but those are for emergencies." She explained, opening the packaging and biting into the crunchy snack. She loved the taste of the dried fruit. She then noticed that Gaara hadn't begun to eat the bar yet and paused. "Something wrong?" 

The redhead shook his head. "No." He then bit into the bar and ate in silence. 

"Wait." The girl suddenly hissed. "Stay completely still." Naruko shifted deeper into the shadow. She made her body completely relax, subtly pressing herself into the shadows, activating the seal on her. She then remembered about Gaara's chakra and quickly slapped a piece of paper with a chakra suppression seal on it at lightning speed. A few shinobi paused, then kept jumping across the roofs, either searching for the ten year-olds, or heading out for a mission. Once they'd passed, Naruko relaxed and Gaara continued eating his snack. 

Once the two had finished, Naruko got rid of the wrappers by putting them in another storage seal to throw away later. 

"What are you doing?" Gaara asked when he noticed the Jinchūriki's movements.

"I'm taking a nap." Naruko leaned against the corner and pulled her legs to her chest, crossing her arms. The ten year-old closed her eyes and quickly fell asleep.

* * * * *

When night fell, Naruko was woken up by both Kurama and Gaara. The redhead was nudging her awkwardly, while Kurama was telling her to wake up. Naruko blinked a few times, then yawned. 

"Is it night, now?" She asked quietly and blinked to adjust her eyes to the darkness.

"No, no, it's still day." He said sarcastically, then stood. Naruko rolled her eyes, stood, and stretched.

"You can't sleep cause of your seal, right?" The mostly-blonde girl asked slowly to the redhead, who nodded. "Once we leave and slow down, I'll start on re-working your seal so you can sleep." Gaara paused.

"...Thank you.." He said slowly, as if the words were foreign to him. Naruko smiled and nodded.

"Well, let's leave." The girl spoke with a grin and tugged on the white cloth around Gaara's torso. "C'mon." Gaara slapped her tanned hand away and the two began to sneak in the direction of Sunagakure's entrance.


	9. Chapter Eight

Naruko rubbed her hands together, then held them out in front of her, an orange glow bouncing off of her and illuminating the area around her. She sighed softly and let a smile grace her whiskered face, the warmth of the campfire warming her body up. Her eyes then opened, and she reached over to her backpack, taking out a piece of paper with a seal on it. There were notations around it and Naruko's brows furrowed in concentration as she continued her work. 

Watching her, Gaara leaned back against the tree behind him, crossing his arms. Out of boredom, he watched the trees sway in the wind, listening silently to the sounds they made. It was moments like these that really made him curse his inability to sleep - when he was bored out of his mind. The boredom always made him feel the fatigue of not sleeping for the whole ten years of his life.

"I should be finishing fixing your seal by the time we reach Gokayama. Then you can sleep while I look around." 

"Sounds good." He wouldn't admit it, but Gaara was excited for the moment he would finally be able to close his eyes and fall unconscious without risking the release of the Ichibi. 

It had been two months since the redhead had left his home village with Naruko and the two had developed a kind of friendship. To Gaara, this was the closest he'd ever been with someone since Yashamaru's death and a small part of him was scared that this was a temporary friendship - that Naruko would fix his seal, then drop him off somewhere. Yes, most of him knew that she was way too nice to ever do that, but there was still a small part of him that was scared - she had, after all, said she didn't like him when they met. Gaara didn't know _why_ he was thinking like this but, when he thought about it, he realised it was probably Naruko rubbing off on him. His sister was right: leaving Suna and joining Naruko on her endeavours was probably the best thing for him. 

Gaara sighed softly and lay down on the ground, folding his arms behind his head as a makeshift pillow. He pulled his legs up and crossed one over the other, bouncing the foot that was in the air. He felt Naruko look at him briefly, then continue writing. 

"How long do we plan on staying in Gokayama?" Gaara asked Naruko quietly, leaning on his elbows as his sea-foam green eyes looked at the girl with crimson-tipped blonde hair.

"I guess..." Naruko tapped the end of her brush against her chin, then looked back at Gaara. "Probably around two or three days, so we can rest up and you can finally get some sleep, then continue travelling to Iwa. We may even stop by Taniku for a couple days. I could also spread some more clones around and have them work as spies for me." 

"Have you already spread them around the Fire and Wind countries?" 

"And Water, and Lightning." Naruko added. Gaara nodded slowly. 

"So you've been to Kumo and Kiri?" Naruko moved her head in a motion of agreement. "Which Jinchūriki were there?" 

"The Nibi, Hachibi, Rokubi and Sanbi Jinchūriki." Gaara hummed, then looked back up at the night sky, listening to the crackling of the campfire. "Ne, Gaara?"

"Yeah?"

"Your birthday is January nineteenth, right?"

"Yes, why?" 

"Just making sure." Gaara was going to ask again, but thought otherwise. 

Around an hour later, Gaara heard light snores coming from the mostly-blonde-haired girl and looked over. Her body was tilting to the side and it looked like she was about to fall. Gaara quickly shot his sand out and caught Naruko before she could hit the ground. Some smaller tendrils of sand then took the paper and brush and made a small dome of sand around them, then hardened it so ink could dry. Gaara made a slightly-soft platform of sand under Naruko and let her sleep on it, the chakra running through it keeping it room temperature. The ten year-old girl smiled softly in her sleep at the warmth and curled up into a ball. He blinked when a small rumbling sound came from her. _Is she..._ He focused on the sound and furrowed his non-existent brows in concentration and confusion as he leaned forward to listen to the soft rumbling. ... _purring...?!_

Gaara leaned back, watching the crimson-tipped blonde with a curious gaze. _Just how in-tune_ are _you?_

* * * * *

When day came, Naruko awoke to Gaara calling her name. 

"Mm." The mostly-blonde groaned, rubbing her eyes. She blinked a few times, then looked at the red-head before her. "Gaara?"

"It's morning; get up." He stood, turning to his gourd and slinging it over his torso. The Ichibi Jinchūriki outstretched his hand, much to Naruko's confusion. A sudden loss of warmth made a quiet and accidental whine escape her, quickly turning into a yelp of surprise when she suddenly landed on twigs, leaves, grass, and anything else that was living in or on the forest floor. 

"Hey!" Naruko exclaimed, face bright pink. 

_Nobody was supposed to know about how I can whine like an animal!_

" **Don't forget that he heard you purring.** " Kurama added, laughing at his host's embarrassment. 

"He _WHAT_?!" Naruko shouted, face rivalling the colour of the Ichibi Jinchūriki's hair. 

"Hmm?" Gaara asked quietly, looking back at the girl with crimson-tipped blonde hair curiously. 

" _You heard **nothing.**_ " Naruko hissed, striding past the other ten year-old and walking forward, gripping her backpack's shoulder straps tightly. Gaara blinked softly, then shook his head and kept walking forward, following the girl. The two began to jump across trees in silence in the direction of the non-shinobi village.

A week later, the pair of Jinchūriki could be found at the entrance of Gokayama. Naruko could see the beauty from outside the village and that made her excited to go in. Her sensitive hearing had also picked up the chirping of numerous birds and sound of children's laughter. There were two people in sight, sitting to the side of the gates. They stood when they noticed the two preteens. 

"Identification required." The female of the two said. 

Blinking slowly, Naruko took off her backpack and crouched down, rummaging around it. _I think I put it in here..._

" **Try checking your storage seals.** " Naruko began to do as told, only to hear a frustrated grumble. " **Not those storage seals, idiot. The ones on your body.** " 

"Shut-" Naruko was about continue her hiss at the fox, then a grin broke out across her face. "I found it! Here." She cheered, then handed it to the woman, who laughed softly. Looking it over briefly, the woman handed it back, then turned to Gaara, who blinked owlishly, looking to Naruko for help. "A-Ah. He doesn't have any registration on him." 

With narrowed eyes, the male spoke this time. "And why would that be?" 

Naruko couldn't outright admit that she'd kidnapped the other Jinchūriki from Sunagakure, so her mind worked to think of a believable excuse. When she thought of one, the girl spoke slowly.

"He lived with his parents somewhere isolated. I found him with his parents dead and him half-dead. He was never situated with any village, so he doesn't have any registration. We're trying to find a village." 

"...Okay.." The male spoke slowly, watching the two with a wary gaze. "Any suspicious movements and you're immediately getting thrown out." 

"Yes, sir." Naruko said with a smile, then took hold of Gaara's sleeve and pulled him through the gate, sealing away her ID. The two stepped into the village and Naruko immediately began to look around, her eyes twinkling in excitement. The crimson-tipped-blonde-haired girl turned to the redhead, smiling. "Come on, let's go get a room we can stay in." Nodding, Gaara followed the girl and the two began to look for an inn. 

Once they'd gotten a room, Naruko immediately closed the door and pushed Gaara onto the bed once he'd placed his gourd on the ground and she'd placed her backpack beside it.

"Wh- hey!" The male exclaimed in surprise at her sudden action. 

"Take off your shirt." Naruko instructed. Gaara blinked slowly, then took off all his upper layers, revealing his pale skin and bare torso. "Hold still." Naruko spoke as she sat behind him and placed her tanned hands on his shoulders gently, channelling chakra through her friend's body. After a few seconds of nothing, Naruko tried channelling the Kyūbi chakra within her into Gaara and a seal showed up on his upper back. The mostly-blonde sighed softly in relief at the fact that the redhead didn't need to take off his pants to find the placement of the seal. "Lie down on your stomach, and make sure you're comfortable, cause this is gonna take a while." 

Silently, Gaara lay down on the bed on his front, and watched Naruko rummage through her backpack, then pull out the piece of paper with his new seal on it. She jumped onto the bed and landed on her feet, startling him when he thought she was gonna fall on top of him. He stiffened when she straddled him, sitting on the dip in his lower back and placing the paper on his neck so that it leaned against the back of his head. 

"Does it really have to be on my head?" He asked, unimpressed.

"Do you want your seal to be fixed?" Gaara sighed gustily, but didn't respond to the girl, who placed her hands on his warm upper back, her cools hands sending a shiver up his spine. She channelled the chakra she gains from Kurama through the seal until she felt what she needed and removed certain parts of the seal - to the point where Gaara could feel the strain of the Ichibi trying to break out of it. His muscles tensed from the strain. Seeing his tenseness, Naruko placed her hand in between her friend's shoulder blades, using chakra to heat it up and relax his muscles. Once he'd relaxed slightly, Naruko continued fixing Gaara's seal.

Three hours later, Naruko had completed Gaara's new seal. Naruko had beads of sweat rolling down her body, and Gaara's body felt heavy with fatigue. 

"Whew." Naruko exhaled lightly once she'd finished, putting her brush back into the storage seal on her body. She leaned back and stretched, then groaned softly when she felt her bones pop and crack after staying crouched over the male under her for three hours. She got off of the redhead and crouched down beside the bed next to the other ten year-old's head. Icy-blue-and-violet eyes met with sea-foam green ones, and the former's owner smiled softly, petting the latter's owner's red hair like her surrogate brother often used to do to her to keep her calm, or get her to fall asleep after one of her nightmares. Gaara exhaled softly through his nose. "How do you feel?" Naruko asked quietly, petting the male's soft hair.

"...Tired.." Gaara murmured, closing his heavily-bagged eyes. "...Heavy..." His eyes then opened, clouded over with fatigue. "Are you sure the seal was fixed..?" 

Nodding with a small smile, Naruko said: "Yes. I'm sure. Just rest up, okay? You deserve it." 

"Okay.." Within seconds, Gaara was asleep and Naruko was watching his sleeping form with narrowed eyes for a minute or so, making sure Shukaku wouldn't escape the seal and wreak havoc on the village that had no - if any - shinobi to protect it. Once she was satisfied, Naruko headed to the small bathroom attached to the rented room with a clean set of clothes taken from her backpack. She undressed and hopped into the shower.


	10. Chapter Nine

Three days later, Gaara and Naruko had arrived at Iwagakure. The two remained hidden and out of sight due to Gaara not having any registration to show to the guards of a main shinobi village.. 

"Either we both sneak in, or I do something that could potentially hurt you." 

"'Hurt me' _how_?" 

"Well it could make you disoriented for a day or two and ill, since you're not used to it." 

"Do it." Naruko looked at Gaara for a moment, then nodded. She wrote something down on a small piece of paper and handed it to the redhead. She sat him down, then began to slowly transport him into the seal.

" _'I'm not sending him to you, please send him back'_?" Gaara asked slowly, an unimpressed look being directed at Naruko, who laughed. "What am I, a _dog_?" 

"No, that's just in case Sasuke thinks you're a letter or something and takes you out of the seal. Make sure not to drop it, Gaara." He sighed softly, then looked down at his lower half when he felt it becoming numb. "Oh, yeah. You'll feel your body go numb and cold for a while. Make sure to take a deep breath - there's no oxygen in there." 

"What?" Gaara asked in sudden alarm, then felt his whole body go numb and quickly took a deep breath.

The sudden cold that nipped at his skin nearly made him gasp involuntarily. He curled up into a ball, rubbing his hands to stay warm. He tried using his sand, but his chakra wouldn't activate, and that meant he couldn't make the sand move. His head felt fuzzy and his whole body began to ache. His lungs started to burn and he involuntarily let out the oxygen in him. The sudden lack of air made his body hurt and burn even more, the air around him seeming to squeeze him. It was hard to move and if he did, it caused immense pain due to the feeling of being squeezed and, just when it felt like he was about to be squished into a human pancake, warmth returned to him. Warm, soft hands rested on his chest lightly. Gaara groaned in pain, finding himself not able to move and his ears popping and ringing, his body felt like lead and he couldn't even open his eyes or breathe properly. 

Naruko's worried gaze looked over Gaara as she felt his heartbeat - it was a little slow but drummed heavily against her hands. The girl's hands lit up green and a bead of sweat rolled down the side of her face as she concentrated heavily on not making her immense chakra reserves go out of wack and accidentally hurt him instead. _Please..._ She thought, biting her bottom lip in anxiety. Once she saw Gaara reflexively take in a deep breath and then breathe normally, a sigh of relief escaped her. _Oh, thank Kami!_

" **You should probably check if he's completely okay.** "

_Right. What do I do, again?_

" **Think back to when that Sakura girl explained it to you.** " 

"Thanks for the help." Naruko said sarcastically, closing her eyes, trying to remember the crash course that Sakura had given her when the mostly-blonde had nearly given someone a concussion as a kid, which was a story for a different day. "Gaara, I'm gonna make sure you're completely okay." Naruko spoke softly to the boy, who simply exhaled slightly heavier in confirmation. Moving her tanned hand upwards, she felt his forehead and moved it away when she felt no temperature difference. She brought her other hand up to one of his cheeks and moved her thumbs to above and under his eyelids, opening them until they revealed the black pupils in the centre of Gaara's sea-foam green eyes. The pupils shrunk a little from the light, but were still slightly dilated from the pressure within the seal. Checking the rest of him, Naruko moved Gaara so that his head lay on the pillow of the bed and he wasn't in an odd position. "Is this okay?" The ten year-old girl asked softly to the ten year-old boy, who exhaled in affirmation. "Just make your chakra spike if you need anything." She took his hand and gently squeezed it, then left from the bed to return to her bag. 

She got a piece of paper, ink and a brush from her bag, then sat on the bed beside Gaara and began to draw a seal on it. Her head then shot up and she looked sideways at the redhead when a sudden thought occurred to her. Trying to figure out whether he was awake, she remained silent.

"Gaara?" She whispered. No response. Silently, Naruko shuffled closer to the boy. Lifting up his shirt, Naruko made the first stroke of the seal she was going to make, the cold ink causing Gaara to make a sharp intake of breath. "Sorry. I'm painting a Hiraishin seal on you - it'll let me get to you if you're ever in trouble." Once she'd finished painting it, Naruko waited a short while for the ink to dry before she lowered his shirt again. She then returned to her spot beside him and kept sketching her seal, eventually going asleep. 

* * * * *

When Naruko woke up, she looked to the side and saw that Gaara was also awake. He was sat up against the headboard, legs crossed with his hands on his knees. Naruko recognised it as the same position she used when she'd first tried to talk to Kurama. She slid off of the large bed and walked around to where she had placed her clothes the previous night. Gaara would've done the same, but he was incapable of moving easily on his own, and Naruko simply refused to undress him. 

"Morning." 

"Ah!" Naruko exclaimed in shock and surprise. She the swivelled around to glare at Gaara. "Don't scare me like that!" 

"Sorry, sorry." He quickly apologised with a small laugh and raised hands. 

"So, did you talk to Shukaku?" Naruko asked, holding her clothes.

Gaara tilted his head to the side and hummed. "Not really..." 

"Was it more like him screaming profanities and threatening to kill you?" Naruko asked, an unimpressed expression on her face. 

"Ah, yep. Did Kurama do that too?" 

Laughing nervously, Naruko spoke: "Added with actually trying to kill me through the bars." 

" **Hey, I apologised for that!** " Kurama exclaimed from within the ten year-old girl's mindscape indignantly.

_No you didn't._

" **Oh, that's right - I didn't.** " Kurama muttered thoughtfully, shrugged, then went back to sleep. 

_Lazy fox._ She sweat-dropped, then focused on Gaara.

"Well, if he's anything like Kurama, then it'll take a while. Eheheh." Naruko grinned, then shook her head. "You feeling better?" 

"My muscles still ache, but I can feel myself healing." He explained. Naruko nodded. 

"Well, I need to get changed. You need the toilet?" 

"Nah, I'm good."

"All right. I'll be right back." Gaara nodded and Naruko stepped into the bathroom, taking off her black camisole and orange loose shorts that reached and replaced them with her mesh shirt and skin-tight black shorts that reached her mid-thighs. She then put on the Uzumaki kimono she'd gotten from her surrogate mother as a gift and clipped on her Uzumaki Swirl earrings that accompanied the kimono (when Mikoto had given them to her, she'd proudly said that the mostly-blonde had to have _something_ feminine). Naruko left the bathroom, placing her sleeping clothes in her backpack and looked at Gaara. "Ready to go?" The redheaded male pulled his sand-filled gourd onto his back slowly, and then nodded at the girl that was nine months younger than him. 

"Where are we going?" Gaara asked as the two henged and began walking through the grey, stone streets. _Kami, this place is depressing, no matter how many colourful lights you string up._

"First, we're going to find the Gobi Jinchūriki, then ask about the Yonbi Jinchūriki, since I can't sense them anywhere in the village." She explained briefly, then continued. "There is the possibility that they're on a mission due to being the village's weapon, but there are other - less likely - explanations."

"You can sense that far?" 

"As an Uzumaki: I'm a natural sensor type. Plus, it's pretty hard to miss the only malicious chakra in the village - it's practically a beacon." Turning back to Gaara, she grinned. "Try closing your eyes and focusing on the chakra that feels similar to Shukaku's." 

The crimson-tipped-blonde-haired girl and scarlet-haired male stopped, giving the latter a few moments to sense the chakra. It took a minute or two, but Gaara eventually opened his sea-foam green eyes and looked at Naruko, pointing with his finger. 

"That way, right?"

Beaming, Naruko nodded. "Yep! Now, let's go!" Grabbing Gaara by the wrist, she began to march forward in the direction of the Gobi Jinchūriki. 

When the two reached the source of the Jinchūriki, they stayed hidden amongst the rocks and boulders to the 'clearing', watching him training. 

"That _can't_ be the Gobi Jinchūriki...!" Gaara whispered in shock, sea-foam green eyes wide.

"Eto..." Naruko murmured, feeling a sudden cold sweat. "...Gaara...?" Naruko whispered to the redhead, her eyes glued on the Jinchūriki before their eyes. She could feel the chakra radiating off of the seven-foot-four-tall man. Despite holding the Gobi, which was four tails smaller than the Kyūbi that she herself held, his chakra reserves were around the same size as hers. The Jinchūriki's clothes were also unusual. 

The Gobi Jinchūriki wore some kind of red, layered armour with a black gi, which had its sleeves ripped off, black gloves covering his hands and some kind of furnace on his back. On his head was a red kasa with white cloth covering his head (excluding his face, which was covered by more of his red kasa, up to his nose). In between the white cloth was the Iwagakure forehead protector. 

The Jinchūriki suddenly swivelled around, revealing light brown eyes that were trained on the two ten year-olds hidden behind the rocks. When he suddenly charged at them, the two of them screeched at the seven-foot-four-tall man that was charging at the two four-foot-seven ten year-olds. 


	11. Chapter Ten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait-
> 
> Next chapter will be about Naruko's life in Konoha up until she left heeheehee :D
> 
> Enjoy children :))))
> 
> (Chapter was updated twice cause I checked my rough timeline for the story and realised I made a mistake with their age)

The Jinchūriki suddenly swivelled around, revealing light brown eyes that were trained on the two ten year-olds hidden behind the rocks. When he suddenly charged at them, the two of them screeched at the seven-foot-four-tall man that was charging at the two four-foot-nine eleven year-olds.

" _Gaara_!" Naruko screeched, lunging towards him and knocking him down. The two landed in a heap on the stone ground and the Gobi Jinchūriki stood above them in all his seven-foot-four-tall glory. His light brown eyes suddenly blinked and he quickly crouched down in front of the sitting eleven year-olds, his forearms resting on his knees as he leaned forward towards the two.

"You're _kids_...!" He whispered to himself, then narrowed his eyes in confusion. "Are you two Jinchūriki, or from some kind of shinobi clan?" He asked the two, helping them up to their feet. but remaining crouched over so that he was eye-level with the two. 

"Jinchūriki." Gaara said slowly, sea-foam green eyes narrowed in suspicion to the sudden personality switch in the ridiculously-tall man.

"Both..." Naruko scratched her cheek with a small smile, remembering how Kurama told her about her parents. 

"Oh? Which clans, if I can ask?"

With narrowed eyes, Naruko hissed: "We don't even know your name, you expect us to trust you just because you're a fellow Jinchūriki?"

"Ah, sorry. My name is Han. I'm the Gobi Jinchūriki." He held out his gloved hand.

"...Naruko - Kyūbi Jinchūriki." 

"Gaara - Ichibi Jinchūriki." 

The two eleven year-olds shook hands with the middle-aged Jinchūriki. They stepped back and watched the still-crouched seven-foot-tall man. 

"Now that we've introduced each other, I will ask what we came to ask." Naruko spoke when he gave no indication that he still wanted to know the answer to his previous question, crossing her arms over her chest with an unreadable expression. 

"..And that is..?" Han asked unsurely, watching the eleven year-old girl.

"Will you join an alliance between the Jinchūriki? If you are ever in trouble, we would come to your aid. It's the same for the others." Naruko explained to the ridiculously-tall male. 

"Ah!" A short pause. "Sure." The man's eyes crinkled up in an indication of a smile as he agreed.

"Okay, then let me paint a seal on you." She briefly explained what it would do and how to use it, and then painted it. Once finished, Naruko looked up at the now-standing man, moving to stand beside Gaara. 

"We also wanted to know if you know where the Yonbi Jinchūriki is." The redhead mentioned, seeing Naruko's expectant look. When he spoke, she grinned cheekily at him. Gaara muttered something under his breath, which Naruko ignored. 

"Ah, Rōshi?" Han put a hand to his chin, rubbing the covered area. "Not his exact area, but I know he was somewhere around the southern area of the Land of Waterfalls around two, or so, weeks ago." He gave a brief description of the man's looks. 

"Thank you, Han-san." Naruko and Gaara bowed in thanks and then took to the trees, leaving Han to look at the two's rapidly shrinking forms. A smile stretched across his lips. _Those two are going to come far, I believe it._

* * * * *

"Don't we have to go to the Land of Waterfalls, anyway?" Gaara asked softly, relying on his instincts and sand as he closed his eyes to feel the rush of air as the two eleven year-olds jumped across tree branches. 

"Yeah, the Nanabi Jinchūriki is supposed to be there. I'm gonna send out some Shadow Clones and if one of them sees Rōshi-san, then they'll alert me through the communications seal we have set up. We can then Hiraishin over, and speak to him in person." Gaara opened his seafoam green eyes and looked at her briefly, only to catch a wide closed-eyed smile. "It would be rude not to." The girl added. Gaara smiled softly, shaking his head. "What?" 

"Nothing, nothing." He boosted himself with chakra. Looking back, he smirked softly. "If you don't hurry up, I'll leave you behind." He teased her. Naruko gasped melodramatically, then proceeded to create a near-nuclear blast of chakra that exploded the thick tree branch she had shot off of. The girl exclaimed in surprise when she suddenly found herself rolling in the air at high speeds, with burning and painful feet. _Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!_ Was the girl's only thought. 

Gaara panicked for a moment, stopping immediately as his sand automatically shot out to catch the Kyūbi Jinchūriki. When he saw that her short frame had landed on the chakra-infused sand (albeit roughly), he let out a small breath of relief, then called out to the girl. 

"You okay?" He called, getting a thumbs up in return. A slow grin stretched across her whiskered face as she waited a few moments for the bones that were likely to be at least slightly-cracked to heal before she attempted to move. 

"Nearly!" Naruko called back, wincing when her bones ached. She felt Kurama focus more of his chakra onto the area and sent gratitude down the mind-link they had. The large fox grumbled at the girl's positivity, but Naruko could still feel his affection. "Okay, I'm good to go. Thanks for catching me, Gaara!" The redhead gave her a thumbs up and the sand lifted to bring the girl onto the branch he stood on. She lifted her arms and stretched until her shoulders popped and back cracked, then sighed in satisfaction. "Okay, let's get going!" 

The two - once again - set off. 

* * * * *

"We should set up camp, it's getting late." Gaara suggested. Naruko looked upward to look through the trees' leaves and saw the darkness. She nodded in Gaara's direction, and the two jumped downward onto the ground. They immediately got to work: Naruko set up the campfire and Gaara began to sort out their things). He got out some of the food that they had gotten (whether that be hunting, or buying them at a village they'd gone to) and preparing it to roast over the fire. He had four birds that the two of them had hunted and began to prepare them.

When the two were eating their food, Naruko paused mid-bite. "...Huh." She murmured in surprise, standing up. 

"What happened?" Naruko turned back to the boy with a smirk on her tanned face, eyes flashing red for the briefest of moments. He saw that her pupils remained slitted as the mostly-blonde girl watched with a calm smirk. 

"It seems we don't need to go to Takigakure to meet Seven." Naruko told him, hands on her dark-orange-clothed hips as her pink lips remained in a fixed smile. 

Gaara blinked briefly, then stood up and stepped up behind Naruko, sea-foam green eyes' vision enhancing in the darkness (thanks to the beginnings of tuning into Shukaku's chakra), his eyes gaining a slight glow that accompanied the small red one coming from his friend. He crossed his arms over his chest, looking at the slim silhouette that was coming through the tree with two others that had only now entered his chakra sensory field. 

A few seconds later, the three people remained on the outskirts of the small area, but both Naruko and Gaara could see them clearly. There was an androgynous kunoichi in front of two males, some short mint green locks hanging over her eyes as she took in short and sharp breaths from most likely having rushed over to their location as fast as possible. She had a small orange clip keeping some of her hair to the side, revealing her bright orange eyes. 

"Hello." Naruko spoke with a smile, her and Gaara looking at the other Jinchūriki. 

"H-hi." The girl responded with a small smile, moving some stray hairs away from covering one of her bright, orange eyes. "I'm Seven." She spoke slowly, watching the two for any suspicious movements. The two males behind her immediately narrowed their eyes and took out a pair of kunai each. The one on the right opened his mouth.

"Hey- What-what are you doing?" He was ignored, however, much to his annoyance.

"I'm Nine."

"I'm One." 

The kunoichi jumped down onto the ground in front of Naruko and Gaara, taking a few steps towards them. The males immediately shot forward to stand between the girl and intercept any kind of contact. They each had a kunai pointed at the eleven year-olds' throats. Naruko swallowed slowly, looking at the man with curly brown hair. She brought forth Kurama's chakra, using it to flash her eyes red. The male flinched slightly in surprise, the other tensing at the danger he felt coming from the girl. The duo took the chance and proceeded to apprehend the two males. 

Naruko swung her hand sideways at the brunette's wrist, causing the kunai to fly out of his hand. At a speed that would make her father proud, she grabbed his arm and kicked the male's shins out from under him, making him fall forward onto the ground. She tied him up with ninja wire, making sure he couldn't get free.

Gaara, meanwhile, didn't have much taijutsu training up until a few months ago, so he had some trouble apprehending the man that was most likely a jōnin. He grabbed the man's wrist and made a jab at the man's torso. He grunted at the pressure and pain, but proceeded to flip his kunai quickly and cut the red-haired Jinchūriki. Gaara grit his teeth a little at the pain on his wrist, and glared at the man. His grip around the man's forearm tightened and he used some chakra to increase the speed and strength of a kick aimed for his opponent's lower spine. The black-haired male's eyes widened in shock, his mouth open but no sound coming out. He fell to the ground, groaning at the numbing pain in his back and down to his legs. 

"You may have paralysed my legs, but I can still move my arms!" The male's face contorted into a shaky smirk, a pathetic attempt at intimidation. Naruko was about to stomp on the man's arms in annoyance, when the female of the trio sighed softly.

"Yōrō-san-"

"Don't share our names with people who could very well be spies from another village!" 

"They're not!" 

"How in the hell do you know that?!" Naruko's opponent exclaimed in anger. She looked down at the male with boredom etched onto her face.

"Does the word _Jinchūriki_ ring a bell?" The two froze, then narrowed their eyes in suspicion. 

"Which village are you from?" Gaara's opponent asked slowly, eyes trained on the mostly-blonde-haired girl, watching her for any threatening move, despite not being able to stand. 

Laughing, Naruko spoke with a mischievous smile on her face, crouching down to look at the man face-to-face. "Do you see a shinobi headband? Or anything that indicates I come from a village?" After a few moments of silence, she smiles and places her cheek on the palm of her tanned hand and leaned her left elbow on her thigh. "No. It's cause I don't belong to a village." 

"...You really think we'd believe that?" 

"Probably not." Naruko laughed softly, scratching her whiskered cheek softly with her index finger. The two glared at her, but Naruko laughed and proceeded to tie up the man's previously-unbound hands, then stand up. She moved towards Gaara, who watched the two males to make sure they wouldn't try to get up and attack them again. He stood beside Naruko and the two looked at the green-haired kunoichi. She looked at them with an unimpressed look. 

"Are you all done?" She asked, arms crossed and irritation visible on her face. Her bright orange eyes flicking between Naruko and Gaara. 

"Yep!" Naruko chirped, grinning cheekily with a thumbs up. The other Jinchūriki snorted, then smiled and shook her head. "So, what's your name? I'm Naruko." The crimson--tipped-blonde held out her hand.

"I'm Fū -ssu!" She shook Naruko's hand with a grin, then turned to the red-head and held her hand out again. "Who are you?" 

"Gaara." He shook Fū's hand, then let it adjust his gourd's strap a little.

"Hey, Fū-san. You're from Takigakure, right?" An exclamation of shock came from the two males, but both were ignored. 

"Yep!" She hummed happily, pointing to her the protector on her upper arm. She then pointed to Naruko and smiled cheekily. "I told you where I'm from, now what about you two?" 

"We already said we don't come from anywhere." 

"C'mon." Fū grinned. "Everybody comes from somewhere." 

"We came from our mothers." Gaara remarked, snorting. 

"You know what I mean -ssu." Fū responded with a grin. 

"You can't tell anyone, though. Okay?"

"Mmkay!"

Naruko stepped closer to Fū and cupped her hands around her mouth, moving closer to the other girl. Whispering into the teal-haired girl's ear, she spoke.

"I'm originally from Konohagakure, but I left. I'm not a missing nin, either, since I'm not a registered shinobi." Moving away, Naruko grinned at the girl. "You can't tell anyone, though." 

"What about Gaara-san?" Fū asked, nodding towards the redhead. 

"Gaara! Stop being so anti-social!" Naruko huffed and pouted when she saw him simply standing there. "Get your ass over here!" She complained. Snorting, Gaara complied. He stepped closer to the mint-green-haired girl and whispered into her ear. A few seconds passed and Gaara stepped back with a smile. 

"Remember-" He tapped the side of his nose with a mysterious smile. "-You can't tell anyone." 

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Fū laughed. "So, something tells me you two didn't come to the Land of Waterfalls just to introduce yourself. Plus-" She leaned closer to the other eleven year-olds and lowered her voice. "Chōmei says you two want something, so I'm inclined to believe him -ssu!" 

"Ahaha. We're forming an...alliance...of sorts between the Jinchūriki. Would you be willing to join, Fū-san?" Naruko stook out her hand, looking at the other eleven year-old with a wide, excited grin. 

"Sure, Naruko-san." Fū slapped her hand to the other girl's and laughed. 

After a few moments of silence with Naruko, Fū and Gaara smiling at each other, an angry, offended shout was heard from beside them. "Uh... _HELLO_?!" The three of them turned to look at the two males on the ground, one tied up and the other tied up and partially-paralysed. 

"Uh...Hi?" Gaara started snickering and Fū openly laughed at Naruko's response. Naruko walked forward to the one with paralysed legs and kneeled down beside him. "If I heal you, will you attack me?" The man glared at her, then reluctantly uttered a quiet 'no'. She smiled at him and proceeded to untie him, then heal his legs, using Kurama's chakra to speed up the healing. She moved to untie the other one after making him promise the same. She moved back to stand beside Gaara, and Fū moved to help her teammates up. "Ah! I nearly forgot!" Naruko hopped up to in front of the mint-green-haired girl and quickly took out her paintbrush. "I need to paint a seal on you that'll let us contact each other, or get help. And also another one that'll let me come to you if you're ever in trouble." 

"...All right. Can I choose where I want it?" Naruko nodded, and Fū chose the area where the back of her neck meets her upper back. 

Once Fū and her team left, Naruko turned to Gaara with a bright grin. "Let's get back to eating, eh?" 

Snorting, Gaara nodded. "Sure. The food is probably cold and the ones that were cooking are now burnt black, but let's eat." 

Naruko punched him lightly on the arm with a grin. "Shuddup. Better something than nothing." The eleven year-old girl's grin turned into a small, sad smile and sat down, eating her half-eaten, now-cold food. Gaara watched and he felt a certain sadness in him. He knew that her life in her village was hard - seeing as she had _left_ \- but he didn't know what exactly happened there. He wanted to get to know the girl, but wasn't sure how to probe her for answers about a topic he wasn't even sure he had a right to know about. Noticing the small sadness in her friend's sea-foam green eyes, Naruko smiled brightly at him. "C'mon, sit down and eat your food, or I'll eat it myself!" She laughed happily, finishing her own meal with a grimace at the taste. While getting her things out, she noticed the small box she'd placed into her backpack a few days ago and smiled softly. _Tomorrow. Tomorrow I'm giving this to you, Gaara._

* * * * *

The next day, Naruko stretched when she woke up, tears coming to her cerulean blue eyes as a yawn escaped her. She rubbed at her eyes and glanced at Gaara. A smile tugged at her lips and she revived the small fire, then continued to watch the red-head that slept like a baby. 

Gaara slept on his side, his legs were pulled up slightly and his hands were pulled up by his head. His slightly-darkened eyelids hid sea-foam green eyes, mouth slightly open with small breaths coming in and out of his mouth. 

" **Hey, Kit.** "

"Ah!" The aforementioned crimson-tipped-blonde exclaimed in surprise, then exhaled softly with a hand on her chest. 

_What's up?_

Kurama snorted, then spoke. " **Are you planning on going to Taki, now that you've met the Jinchūriki, or will you keep camping out?** " 

_I dunno. We'll probably camp out instead of risk those two guys seeing us and getting us arrested, or something._

After a few seconds of silence, Kurama spoke again. " **Hey, Kit**."

_Yeah?_

" **Summon me out.** " Naruko did as told, and the Kyūbi poofed into existence beside the girl. She grinned and pet his head, making him purr and rub it into her hand.

"You're unusually affectionate today, Kura-chan." Naruko grinned, causing the five-tailed fox to lick her hand. He didn't respond, only stared. 

Kurama knew that Naruko didn't know the reason for his sudden affection. He did, though. He wasn't about to tell her either - he wanted to see the girl's reaction to this new discovery and natural occurrence. 

" **I suggest going to Taki, by the way.** " He spoke in Naruko's mind, then snorted when confusion came from the girl. He gave her a foxy grin and crouched down by Gaara, bunting his nose against the boy's hand and making attempts to lift it. The red-head's hand twitched and lifted slightly. The Kyūbi immediately slithered under his hand and curled up to the boy. In response, the Ichibi Jinchūriki brought his knees up more and hugged the five-tailed fox, burying his face in his fiery-orange fur. Kurama let him do this and just placed his head on the male's pale wrist. Naruko grinned at the cute sight, continuing to do her business.

Two hours later, Gaara began to groan softly and opened his eyes, blinking softly with nonexistent brows furrowed. Naruko smiled and moved closer, grabbing the small box along the way, then crouched down in front of him as he sat up. Kurama fell into his lap, causing the fox to yelp with surprise when the movement cause him to awaken from his deep slumber. 

"Mmh.. Naruko?" He asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He yawned lightly, covering his mouth and looked at the girl. "What's up?" 

Naruko smiled brightly, cerulean blue eyes twinkling with affection. Gaara felt slightly uncomfortable under the girl's gaze, then was taken by surprise when her arms suddenly outstretched and revealed a slightly-flat, black, square-shaped box, held tightly in Naruko's grasp. Tilting his head to the side slight in confusion and curiosity, he slowly took the box. Opening it, his sea-foam green eyes widened in shock at its contents. Naruko smiled happily, the affection clear in her eyes as she hugged Gaara from the side.

"Happy birthday, Gaara." 

"..Wow...I've never.." He swallowed and cleared his throat, then continued speaking. "I've never gotten a gift like this." He turned to look at the eleven year-old with a smile on his pale face. "Thank you, Naruko."

Gaara reached into the box, gently grasping the ends of the gold chains and holding it up. There were two small identical silver vine-designed parts that attached itself to either-side of a sea-foam-green tear-shaped jewel, slightly swaying with the breeze and shining from the small sliver of sunrise sunlight coming through the trees. 

Gaara smiled brightly, looking at the necklace. He turned it around and reached back to connect the ends of the chains together. His brow-bones furrowed in frustration when he couldn't connect them, then felt Naruko's fingers gently pry the ends from his own. 

"Here." She murmured, then Gaara felt the cold chain fall on the back of his neck and smiled at Naruko, who looked at him with a grin. "Happy birthday."

"So you said." He spoke softly with a smile, fingering the jewel on the end of the necklace. "Thank you."

"So you said." 

The one eleven year-old and one twelve year-old laughed, smiling in amusement. 

" **Hey, what about me!** " Kurama exclaimed, as if offended, jumping up and leaning his paws against Gaara's chest, then licking his chin lightly. 

"Nobody could _ever_ forget _you_ , Kura-chan." Naruko snickered with a grin, then began laughing at the mental flip of the finger he gave her in her mind.


	12. New Book :))

I made a new book.

It's just going to be anime oneshots and if some are liked, then I might make them into stories (once this one is done. And don't worry, this story is still being written. Just have a bit of writer's block with some of the stuff in the latest chapter. And I'm not writing the oneshot so I can focus on the story lmao.) 

I'm taking requests - any anime and any characters can be requested. 

Have fun reading if you decide to uwu


	13. Chapter Eleven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays everyone! (Ignore the fact that I'm a day late - nearly 3 hours late for me heehee)
> 
> I was planning on making a small Christmas omake but it would've been rushed an unedited smh (plus I have no idea what to write for it lmao). 
> 
> I might make a New Year's bonus chapter, and I'll definitely write one for Valentine's Day (I'm gonna start it soon so it's ready and not rushed >:]) 
> 
> Anyone have anything they would want me to add for either a New Year's bonus or a Valentine's Day bonus? (This includes small details that aren't 'plot'-related) 
> 
> Well, have a fun holiday :D

"Gaara!" Naruko sung happily, skipping through hotel halls with a bright grin on her face.

The now-twelve year-old had a bright grin on her face, the man following her smiling in amusement with a small shake of his head, shoving long, spiky, white hair over his shoulder so that the long ponytail hung limply on his back. 

"What's up, Naruko?" Came the voice of the red-haired boy through the brown, wooden door. 

The blonde, crimson-tipped girl then stopped - silent - raised her right leg, then turned at rapid speed and roundhouse-kicked the door open. It broke open with a smash and slammed against the wall, splintering off into dust and debris. 

" _Not again, Naruko!_ " Gaara shouted loudly, looking at the broken door with an expression that was a cross between panic, annoyance and concern. _Panic_ because the manager of _yet_ _another_ hotel was probably already on their way to their room to kick them out (he sincerely hoped this manager wasn't like a few of them that had given them a stern lecture about respect and manners). _Annoyance_ because this wasn't the first time she'd done this. And, finally, _concern_ because Naruko would only bust through a door when she was excited, and an excited Naruko meant _destruction would come._

Before he could think of a certain moment where Naruko nearly destroyed a whole _village_ because she was so excited, the sight of an unfamiliar man caught his attention.

"Who in Kami's name are you?" Gaara's eyes narrowed and he stepped up to stand beside Naruko, a little in front, as if to protect her from any danger the man would bring (not that the girl already had that covered). 

"This is Jiraiya!" Naruko exclaimed cheerfully, already packing the things she'd left on the small table with a speed that showed how used to it she was. 

"Jiraiya...?" Gaara pondered, fingering his chin in thought, recognition flashing in his pale eyes. He glanced at the man once more, then furrowed his brow-bones in thought. "The Sannin? The Toad Sannin, right?" 

The white-haired male's eyes seemed to light up like a strong fire jutsu and a wide smirk appeared on his wrinkled face. _I think I just unleashed the beast..._ Gaara thought nervously, silently praying Naruko would come save him.

"Indeed I am!" He suddenly posed, smirking and grinning at the same time. He was about to continue, when Gaara's prayers were answered and Naruko stepped up beside the twelve year-old boy.

"Yeah, yeah old man. You're just an old pervert." She spoke with a dismissive wave of the hand as she stepped past him and to the window, sliding it open. She jumped up onto the edge and gave Gaara an expectant look. "You comin', or are you gonna stay with Pervy Perverson over there?" 

"I'm coming." The red-head spoke with no hesitation, immediately coming to the girl. Jiraiya put a hand to his chest, offended, then moved to follow the two. 

"I am not a pervert! I'm a _super_ pervert!" He spoke indignantly, huffing. The man received two unimpressed looks. "You two suck." 

_So do the characters in your book._

" **In what way?** " Kurama snickered in Naruko's mind, laughing harder at the embarrassed ' _KURAMA!_ ' he got as an answer, especially when put together with her crimson face. 

"Whatever floats your boat, Pervy Sage." Naruko took to the roofs and crouched, waiting for the two males, who quickly followed.

"Where are you kids going, now?" Jiraiya asked curiously. The two gave him a dirty look.

"We're not telling you." They spoke at the same time, both folding their arms. Jiraiya chuckled nervously, a little unnerved by the two twelve year-olds. 

"O...kay. Well, I want to talk to Naruko." He stepped closer and gently grasped the girl's shoulder. The white-haired man then winced when he felt a dry and rough tendril roughly pull his arm by the wrist, then saw the golden colour of sand and looked at the Ichibi Jinchūriki. He nearly - _nearly!_ \- flinched at the look in the boy's cold sea-foam-green eyes, and quickly stepped back. 

"Not alone." He spoke lowly, standing before the girl protectively. Jiraiya smiled nervously, the danger rolling off the boy coming in deadly waves. 

"That's fine." Jiraiya said with a small smile, then grasped the both of them on the shoulder. 

The vision around the three of them swam for a moment, then cleared of the blurriness to reveal trees and the entrance to the small village in the distance. Naruko's hand was on her friend's upper arm and the two watched the older male with vigilant eyes. 

"What did you want to talk about, Jiraiya?" Naruko questioned, arms now at her sides.

"I just wanted to talk to you about Konoha." 

Naruko visibly tensed, her eyes becoming cold and unfeeling. A shiver came up her spine and she absentmindedly scratched at her stomach, pulling her battle-kimono's edge downwards, as if to cover herself. Gaara grew concerned.

"You okay?" He whispered quiet enough that only the girl's enhanced hearing would hear. She didn't respond, making the boy grow more concerned.

"W..what did you want to talk about Konoha?" She asked, voice calm after her slight stutter. 

"I.." Jiraiya felt a wave of pity and anger come over him. Pity for the girl that had gone through so much suffering in the village. Anger at the village he came from for treating a child so badly. "How did you get away? No Anbu, or I were ever ordered to find you, either" 

A small smile came onto the gir;'s whiskered face. "Jiji helped me get away." 

"Really?" Jiraiya asked in surprise and curiosity. It was a huge surprise because the literal _Hokage_ of the village had willingly and knowingly allowed the Jinchūriki of the Kyūbi leave the village. When the other villages would find out about this, they would most likely attempt to find the Jinchūriki and take them for their own, or even attack the village because it may have been weakened by the loss of its Jinchūriki. He could, however, understand from a familial point of view, but a Kage is supposed to put their village before anything else. Though, he could see the old Sarutobi breaking those supposed 'rules' and 'expectations'. "How?" 

"You wanna hear the long story, or the short story?" Naruko asked both her godfather and close friend. 

"Long." Both answered, taking a seat on the ground. Smiling, the twelve year-old girl followed suit. 

"Okay, you better get comfortable." 

* * * * *

_"Jiji..." A four year-old Naruko sat on the comfortable couch by the old Hokage's desk._

_"Yes, Naru-chan?" The man spoke softly, peeling his brown eyes away from the paperwork to look at his surrogate grand-daughter. The sight of her wide, watery cerulean-blue-and-violet eyes made his expression soften immensely and stand up. The elderly man kneeled in front of the small girl with a small smile. Extending his arms out, Naruko immediately leapt into her grandfather's arms. She buried her face into the man's shoulder, inhaling the scent of the only family she has ever known._

_"Why, Ji-chan..." She whispered. "...Why does everyone hate me?"_

_The girl's sad voice broke the old man. Throughout all of his years, he'd seen people and families die right before his eyes. He'd seen families beg him for help right after a massacre, or after they'd been starved for days. He'd born witness to torture. All of those didn't break him as much as the sad, vulnerable voice of his grand-daughter did._

_He had no answer. What could he say? '_ Your father sealed a demon inside you and that's why everyone hates you' _? No. That would make the situation worse. All he could do was remain silent and squeeze the girl tighter. Hiruzen felt guilt overwhelm him. No matter what he did, Naruko would continue to be hated by the people that her own father had protected - the people that were supposed to take care of the girl. He couldn't imprison or punish people for glaring, and he hadn't been informed of any physical actions taken against the girl. The old Kage had even conducted his own investigation (with the help of Kakashi - a young Anbu member that deeply cared for the girl - and a few others that he trusted) to see if anyone was physically abusing her, but came up empty._

_"Did my parents hate me, too?" She wondered out loud in a soft whisper._

_"No!" He exclaimed with a small gasp, hugging Naruko tighter. The girl pulled back and looked at the old man with a small tear-filled glare._

_"How do you know that?!" She shouted. "How do I know_ you _don't hate me, too?!_ How do I know _-"_

_"Sshh." Hiruzen pulled the girl into a hug again, stroking her short, spiky hair, that made her look like a boy, soothingly. After a few moments the girl calmed down._

_"Sorry, Ji-chan. I'm sorry I yelled." Naruko apologised quietly, looking down. Hiruzen pet her head with a small smile._

_"It's fine. You're allowed to yell, Naruko-chan. You don't have to apologise."_

_* * * * *_

_At five, Naruko found herself sitting on her surrogate grandfather's couch that remained in the Hokage office. A sad look was on her face, slowly-fading bruises on her face and body, a blanket around her. Clear tears dripped down her whiskered cheeks, rolling over dried blood that lay over cuts that were nearly gone._

_"Naruko..." Hiruzen spoke sadly, anger coursing through his every vein. He had imprisoned everyone they could catch, which was mostly the citizens as the shinobi were trained in concealing their presence (and some were more skilled at that than others were as sensors). He had been deeply disappointed and furious that there were people like this in his village. "I'm sorry... This is my fault..."_

_"Don't blame yourself, Ji-chan. You didn't hurt me, the villagers did." Naruko spoked softly, her voice breaking the old man's heart further, increasing his guilt. "Ne, Jiji?"_

_"Yes, Naruko-chan?"_

_"Why do they hate me so much?" She asked. "Did I do something wrong?"_

_"No! You didn't do anything wrong!"_

_"Then, why?"_

_"I.." Oh, how he wanted to tell the girl - to explain why she was an outcast in her own village. "..I can't tell you just yet. I'll tell you when you're older."_

_After some hesitation: "...Okay, Ji-chan. I trust you..."_

_* * * * *_

_"JI-CHAN!" A six year-old version of Naruko wailed, tears streaming down her face, arms shielding her face defensively. The girl bit her lip in pain, scrunching her eyes shut, tight. Gasping, her mouth opened due to the sharp sting on the side of her face. "JI-CHA-!"_

_"No-one will come for you,_ demon _." One of the civilians hissed, covering her mouth, pulling a face of disgust at the tears that fell onto his hand._

_"Please..." She begged weakly, then cried harder when she saw the shimmering blade of a kunai among the cluster of people. She could hear her own heart thrumming loudly in her ears, drowning out the laughter of the people around her. The feeling of her heart thumping heavily against her chest lightly numbed the sensation of the kicks to her every limb. Naruko could feel the bruises forming and healing. "..Stop!"_

_"DID YOU STOP WHEN WE BEGGED YOU TO STOP KILLING OUR LOVED ONES?!" Someone yelled, stabbing the kunai abruptly into the six year-old girl's stomach, eliciting a scream from the girl._

_"AH! STOP! IT HURTS!" She screamed and begged, grabbing at the hand holding the kunai. Her nails dug into the wrist, making scratches and drawing a droplet of blood. The person made a loud noise of disgust. Naruko opened her eyes and saw a man holding his arm up, looking around as if showing off something for everyone to see; this was exactly what he was doing._

_Like a Mexican wave, gasps came from everyone, whispers being sent back to those who couldn't see. Naruko couldn't hear any individual voices, all of them mixing together to form a gathering of voices. The six year-old girl's vision remained blurry with tears and pain, her energy and chakra being redirected to heal the stab wound in her abdomen._

_A gasp and exclamation of pain came from her when two very strong grips came to wrap around her small wrists, pulling the girl's whole body upwards and dragging her across the rough ground. Naruko then yelled at the burning in her hands, hissing at the feeling of blood running down her cold hands, the heat from the liquid burning her icy skin. Making an attempt to move her hands was a huge mistake - it only brought a burning pain to the girl's hands that travelled up her arms. An identical pain blossomed in her feet, travelling up her legs. Naruko didn't try to move her legs, instead just sobbing with gritted teeth._

_For the next few minutes, Naruko had to bear the pain and torture she was subjected to. When she suddenly felt her surrogate grandfather's presence and the shinobi that takes care of her - but never talks to her - Naruko nearly cried from relief. She would have, if not for the unbearable pain that kept pulsating throughout her entire body, the flesh and skin that was healing around the kunai kept being cut by the blade, bringing more pain. Her baggy clothing was slightly ripped - mostly her t-shirt - and the cool air kept making the six year-old shiver._

_The stabs, punches and kicks suddenly stopped, a voice screaming 'scatter!' coming from the crowd, Naruko hearing it as if she was underwater. The sound of feet running and yelling when they were caught by Anbu._

_"Naruko..!" Hiruzen's voice pierced through the aforementioned girl's ears._

_"J..i..ch..an..." Her voice croaked, tears falling down the sides of her face, cerulean-blue-and-violet eyes that were covered in a layer of tears seeming to shimmer in the moonlight._

_"I'm here, Naruko-chan. I'm here. Jiji's here. I'm going to take the kunai out so that you can heal, okay?"_

_"O..kay..."_

_Hiruzen Sarutobi took hold of the kunai handle in Naruko's left hand, placing his own left one down to hold the girl's hand still._

_"Hold down her other limbs." The elderly man instructed to his Anbu, who immediately carried out instructions. The child tensed at the feeling of hands pressing down on her limbs, but didn't fight them off, trusting the old man. "3...2...1." Hiruzen pulled out the kunai and watched with relief as the injury healed over before she had a chance to bleed out more, leaving a faint pale line where the kunai had been lodged in. "Switch." The Anbu moved over to the next limb so that the elderly Hokage could pull out the weapon from her other hand. "3...2...1." Hiruzen pulled out the ninja weapon, watching the skin slowly scar over. The four shinobi repeated this process two more times._

_Once over, the Anbu moved away from the girl's aching body and into the shadows or onto the roofs, leaving the Hokage with her. The old Sarutobi cradled the child into his body, holding her head to his chest._

_"I'm sorry, Naruko-chan. I'm sorry I can't protect you properly."_

_"Jiji." The mostly-blonde whispered tiredly, a hand lifting to the man's face. She placed a hand on the man's cheek and smiled softly - tired. "...You came, didn't you...? You stopped them...from hurting me more..."_

_"Yes, Naruko.." He closed his teary eyes, allowing Naruko to hold her surrogate grandfather's cheek, cold skin burning warm skin, and vice-versa. "..I did. Where do you want to go?"_

_"With Jiji."_

_"Okay, I'll take you home."_

_"..Thank you."_

_Falling asleep in the old man's arms, Hiruzen hugged the six year-old close to him. Turning around, he gave the Anbu their instructions, then shunshined to his home, where a woman greeted him, telling him how his grandson was already asleep in his crib. Thanking her, Hiruzen took Naruko to the guest bedroom and gently placed her on the bed, covering her with the thick blanket. The child curled up, bringing the blanket up to her chin. The elderly Hokage smiled softly and brushed crimson-tipped blonde spiky strands of hair away, gave the girl a small kiss on the forehead and left the room._

_When she awoke, her quickly-growing crimson-tipped blonde hair was gently being stroked by the elderly man. It was soothing to wake up to. It made the stiffness, ache and slight burning in her body a little less noticeable. Her hearing came next - a rhythmic beating that forced her own to match it and kept her breathing steady._

_Naruko blinked a few times, eyes adjusting to the light._

_"Are you awake, Naruko?" The words were whispered, yet still sounded to be at a normal volume to the girl. She nodded slightly, wincing at the pain it brought her. "I'm sorry." His voice was quieter, now._

_"What for?" The six year-old whispered croakily, throat dry and a burning pain flowing through her body. Despite this, she moved her arm a little, facing her palm upwards and letting it rest openly beside her._

_"For not being able to stop this." Hiruzen took her small hand squeezed it, comfortingly. The action worked for the two of them - it gave the man a small comfort in knowing she was alive, and gave the girl comfort in knowing he would be by her side. "I'm sorry." He repeated._

_"Don't be." Naruko squeezed back. "You didn't cause any of this."_

_A silence reigned over the room for a while, and Naruko found herself being rid of the burning (it being replaced by more aches and throbbing pains). It was broken by Hiruzen._

_"Hey, Naruko?" He asked softly._

_"Yes?"_

_"If..If you were given the choice, would you want to leave Konoha?" Hiruzen waited for her answer._

_"Maybe." She finally spoke, turning to look at the man and opening her dual-coloured eyes to look at the man. She smiled. "But, not yet. I don't want to leave you, Jiji."_

_"Alright, but the option is always there. Just tell me, and I'll help you - I promise." The Hokage's chocolate eyes met beautiful blue-and-violet ones, his promise's honesty being confirmed by the look in them._

_"Thank you, Jiji."_

_* * * * *_

"By the time I was seven, I'd learned that feelings and emotions would be taken advantage of, so it'd be better not to show them. The rest of the village had also noticed I was a girl, and not a boy, cause my hair was growing quickly by then. I'm sure you know what that means..." Naruko glanced at Gaara and Jiraiya for a moment when she heard what was basically a low snarl from the former, and a growl from the latter. 

The girl continued, but more quietly than previously. Gaara shuffled a little closer to her to provide some form of comfort - which she accepted wholeheartedly. "Jiji found out the second time it happened and tried to kill the guys that did it." She let out a small, nervous laugh, and Gaara felt sad when he saw the raw emotions in the girl's blue-and-violet eyes. "I told him not to, and he - instead - arrested them after putting them through T-and-I, just without the I and a lot of the T." Naruko grinned a little at the quiet _'sadistic sensei'_ that came from Jiraiya. "After that, they didn't do it as often and they only did it when I wouldn't scream as much, or when the Hokage was away. Sasuke-nii actually found me after a bad...attack...while Jiji was away, and he and his family helped me." 

Naruko smiled softly, and Gaara saw the affection and happiness in the girl's blue-and-violet eyes, the coloured orbs twinkling with joy at the memories of the boy. The redhead decided right then and there that he liked this Sasuke guy and wanted to meet him - if Naruko spoke well of this person with such a look in her eyes, then he must truly be a good person. 

"How old were you when you left?" 

"Eight." 

"How did the Hokage help you escape?" 

"It was actually easier and faster than you'd think, with Jiji being the Hokage, and all." 

"True." 

"How did you leave, then, Naruko?" Gaara asked curiously. 

"Essentially, Jiji just led me through the alleyways of Konoha and hid me when a random person would come across us. The gates were a little more complicated - Jiji had to make some sort of excuse and distract the guards while I snuck out. I got to say goodbye to Sasuke, which was good. I didn't want to just leave him a note, or something." Naruko laughed nervously, scratching the back of her head. 

"Well that's all you're doing right now, sooo-" 

"Shut-!" Naruko leaned over and poked him in the ribs, making Gaara grunt softly. Jiraiya laughed lightly at the two of them.

"You two seem close." The older man observed. "How did you two meet?" 

"Well!" Naruko glanced at the redhead, and the sudden foxy slyness of her grin made him narrow his seafoam-green eyes in suspicion. "Basically, he tried to kill me, then he dropped me to the ground after fuckin' up my ankle- oh, that reminds me!" She turned to Gaara and pointed an accusatory finger at him. "You never apologised for nearly breaking my bone with your sand!" 

"Okay." Was the redhead's simple response, accompanied by a thumbs up. One corner of his lips tugged upwards into a small, amused smirk when she began to sputter about how rude he was. "You've hit me many times."

"You could've given me a concussion when you dropped me!"

"Kurama would've healed you and fixed that."

"You wouldn't have known tha-"

"Kurama?" Jiraiya interrupted the amusing banter before it could escelate. 

"The Nine-Tails. He's nice." Naruko responded bluntly, then turned back to Gaara. Jiraiya sputtered in shock.

"You're _friends_ with the Kyūbi?!" His eyes were wide. The Kyūbiwas _nice_? The Tailed Beast that mercilessly destroyed his home twelve years ago? The Tailed Beast known for its animosity towards humans? The Tailed Beast known for its viciousness? Were they even talking about the same Nine-Tails?

"Yep! No matter what he says, he's just a softie who wants to sleep all day and night." 

" **This is slander!** " The fox's response made Naruko snort in obvious amusement. Jiraiya sighed.

"Has the Kyūbi ever tried to...do anything?" The mostly-blonde's eyes narrowed in annoyance, a frown settling itself on her usually-smiling face. 

"The _Kyūbi_ has a name - it's _Kurama._ " Naruko scowled and crossed her arms at the older man, who stared at her for a moment, then bowed his head in apology.

"Right. I'm sorry." Huffing, the girl of the three (technically four) nodded in satisfaction and crossed her arms. A thought then occurred to him, and he looked into the girl's eyes. "So, have you two just been travelling through countries this whole time?" Naruko's head bobbed side-to-side.

"Kind of. With Gaara, I've been travelling around, but we're just finding Jinchūriki to join an alliance of sorts, and also to find some missing-nin."

"Why missing-nin?" Jiraiya's eyes narrowed, his displeasure visible to anyone. 

"Don't look at me like that! We're only looking for the ones that are actually nice and in need of a home. As for your question-" Naruko's voice lowered. "-we're re-establishing Uzushio." Naruko's grin screamed determination, and Jiraiya was impressed by the twelve year-old child.

"How are you doing so far?" He asked curiously.

Gaara answered this time: "We've led quite a few people to Uzushio - shinobi, or not. There was one missing-nin that Naruko invited that I think was a _really_ stupid decision." He gave the girl a pointed look, who simply answered with a cheeky grin.

"Which one? According to you, a lot of the missing-nin I invited were stupid decisions!" Naruko laughed loudly, much to Gaara's ire.

"Does the name _Deidara_ ring a bell?" 

" _Deidara_?!" Jiraiya exclaimed in shock. "He's an S-rank missing-nin! How did you not _die_?!" 

"Dunno. Nearly did, though." Naruko shrugged with a nervous laugh, and the man seemed to look as if his age was catching up to him and was about to get a heart attack. 

"Don't try to understand - she has an odd relationship with death." Gaara grumbled from his seat beside the girl. Quietly (probably intended as a comment to himself), he added: "You probably wreaked enough havoc that they don't want you back." Naruko laughed loudly and swung an arm around Gaara's shoulders.

"Which means I can stay with you, buddy!" The redhead rolled his sea-foam-green eyes.

"Yaaaayyy. _Lucky me_." He drawled sarcastically, deadpanning. Jiraiya snorted. 

"When are you going back?" The sage asked. 

"Huh? Oh. When we find a certain person. We also need to find some people with a lot of knowledge in certain subjects, too." 

"Which subjects, if I can ask?"

"Uh; medical, combat. There's a few more, but I can't remember them off the top of my head." Naruko scratched the back of her head, and the self-proclaimed super pervert seemed to have gained an idea.

"One of my ex-teammates is known for her knowledge and abilities in the medical field." He explained. "She's technically a part of Konoha, but she absolutely hates it and would never return to it. If she's found, it would be pretty easy to convince her to switch to Uzushio." 

"This ex-teammate of yours." Gaara cut in. "It wouldn't happen to be Tsunade the Slug Princess, would it?" Gaara asked curiously, then turned to Naruko at the nod he got in response. "If we brought her to Uzushio, then it would be _incredible_. She's really powerful and would be an amazing asset to the village." 

Naruko thought for a moment, then nodded. "How do we find her?"

"Leave that to me." Jiraiya offered her a determined grin, oozing arrogance and pride. "My spy network will find her soon, and you'll be the first to know." 

"Thanks." Naruko smiled brightly, blue-and-violet eyes gleaming with appreciation. 

"I could help you find that person, too, if I knew who to look for." The man offered. 

Gaara watched the girl of the group tap her chin in thought, biting her bottom lip unsurely.

"...Itachi Uchiha." Naruko finally whispered after a few seconds of reluctance.

Jiraiya watched the girl for a few moments, seeing her nervousness. He then smiled softly, gently placing a large hand atop her head. 

"I'll find him - don't worry." The sage told her. Nodding, Naruko shrugged her backpack off her shoulders and pulled out two pieces of paper, a brush, and some ink. The girl drew the same seal on both of them, then handed the sheets of paper to Jiraiya after they'd dried. 

"Hand these to them when you find them?" At the elder's nod, Naruko beamed. "Thanks so much."

Smiling, Jiraiya nodded. The three continued to converse between themselves until they had to leave, with Naruko painting her seal on the sage so they could keep contact.


	14. Valentine's Day Special

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Valentine's Day Bonus stuff

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lmao I was supposed to finish off editing this chapter but I ended up waking up with a huge migraine and sleeping for another hour after taking a few tablets cause I felt so bad, then woke up and took a shower cause I was all sweaty from my shivering and migraine and that. Then I kept getting distracted from editing (whether that be playing with my sister or vibing to music) and I just didn't finish editing until now. 
> 
> It's literally 11:47pm rn smh

Naruko yawned as she woke up, remaining in her laying position as she rubbed her dual-coloured eyes to get rid of the fatigue. She looked to the side, glancing at Gaara's sleeping form on the bed, and smiled. Ever since he was able to, Gaara loved sleeping. It got to the point where Naruko sometimes woke him up by jumping on his body and has accidentally kneed him where no pain should ever be felt on a man (and Gaara will completely deny that he cried and screamed like a little girl at the pain, much to Naruko's - and Kurama's pained - hysterical amusement).

The soon-to-be-fourteen year-old looked at the clock on the wall, noting that it was eight in the morning, and decided to get in the shower. Undoing the bandage wrappings around her quickly-growing chest, she placed her clothing by the sink, running a hot shower. Naruko then stepped under the water and sighed contentedly with a smile. She could remember the day she could have a hot shower longer than ten minutes, as well as how gleeful she felt. She'd accidentally spent an hour or so just sitting under the hot water without even doing anything. 

Naruko scrubbed the nicely-scented shampoo into her hair after washing the rest of her body, massaging her fingers into her scalp and running the appendages through her long, bi-coloured hair. She began to think about everything that had happened up until that very moment, then paused in realisation. _Hold on..._ She thought, brows furrowed lightly. _Isn't it Valentine's Day?_ Naruko wondered to herself. The girl's lips curled into a smile, and she suddenly started to laugh loudly at her train of thought. 

"Hahaha! Good luck, Sasuke!" She laughed. From his countless complaints in the letters they'd been sending back and forth, Naruko knew he had many fangirls, as well as his deep hatred for them. He had also confessed to her that he was scared of some of the things they did and told him. What made Naruko laugh, though, was that he was scared of Sakura - his biggest fangirl. _Oh, Sakura. You've really outdone yourself. Good job._ Naruko quickly finished her shower and exited the bathroom after changing.

Naruko had changed into a white vest-top that reached just above her waist. She also wore a pair of thigh-length yellow shorts that had a drawstring around the waist and blue shinobi sandals on her feet. The girl had also put her wet hair up while it dried, a few strands stuck to her tanned, whiskered face. 

The thirteen year-old then walked up to her supplies, taking out some supplies, then proceeding to write on a sheet of paper. She began to draw lines, turning those soft strokes into words and sentences. A few moments later, Naruko snickered at the note she was about to send to Sasuke.

 _'Good luck_. _'_

Sending it through her seal with a snicker, Naruko turned to look at the other soul in the room, blinking in surprise when she saw that he was not asleep.

"Thought you were asleep." She said with a smile. Gaara yawned, turning to his side to face her completely.

"I woke up."

"I can see that." Naruko shook her head with a grin, then walked closer to the bed he was laying in and sat on her knees. Her head rested on her folded arms - atop the mattress - and her face was moved closer to Gaara's. "Good morning." 

The redhead nodded tiredly, muttering a quiet 'morning', his seafoam-green orbs losing themselves in the shining depths of bicoloured crystals. They shone with a joyful gleam, not an unfamiliar emotion within them. Gaara couldn't seem to look away. He was captivated within their gaze. Until Naruko blinked. He looked away.

"What do you want?" Gaara asked, flopping back onto his back and closing his eyes momentarily. He threw them open when fingers pinched either side of his face and stretched his cheeks out. He furrowed his nonexistent brows and turned his seafoam-green to watch the smiling half-blonde. 

"You _really_ aren't a morning person!" She exclaimed, not sitting on the bed and leaning over Gaara. Her long ponytail fell over her shoulder and some strands tickled his face. He moved them away. 

"Oi, your hair is still wet." Naruko laughed and moved from above him.

"C'mon, Gaara! Get up!" She huffed. Gaara groaned, but got up. 

* * * * *

Naruko smiled brightly as she marched forward, hands clasped behind her. Gaara was a little behind the girl. He wore navy-blue pants and black shinobi sandals. Covering his torso was a pale-grey vest, revealing the slightly-toned muscles on his arms that came from the continuous grueling training with Naruko and Kurama. Around his neck lay the pendant that Naruko had gotten for his birthday and his fingers fiddled with it absentmindedly as they walked. He felt odd and off-balance without the giant gourd on his back, but had begrudgingly listened to Naruko when she told him that they wouldn't need their weapons. 

The two had left their hotel room and were currently strolling through the gravel streets of the village they were in. Around them were decorations of fairy lights, paper hearts made by the children, wool hearts knitted by the elderly, as well as other Valentine's-themed decorations. It looked nice. Naruko couldn't wait until nighttime - when the lights would be turned on and the village would be aglow with beautiful colours. 

"Hey, Gaara." Naruko spun on her foot, walking backwards while she faced the aforementioned male. "Wanna go see the bonfire tonight?" 

"Bonfire?" 

"You haven't heard?" Naruko raised a brow and stopped, then walked forward towards Gaara with a soft smile. The redhead could feel heat rise in his cheeks at the warm look in her pretty eyes. "The village is gonna light a huge bonfire and use some shinobi with a chakra affinity to do some kind of huge thing with it. I don't know what but the people here are pretty excited about it, so it's probably really cool." 

"Sure." Gaara let a small smile slip onto his face at the bubbly girl and the two continued to walk, conversing and talking about what they'd think the bonfire would be like in this average-sized village. With literally everyone so excited about it, Gaara would be lying if he said he wasn't looking forward to it. 

The pair spent a few minutes walking, then ended up at the small park in the centre of the village. Looking at the bench by the entrance, Naruko and Gaara saw the friend they'd made on the first day of their stay - Raiba Rū - and waved; Naruko more enthusiastically than Gaara. 

"Hi, Rai!" She called with a bright grin. The mentioned male's face immediately brightened and a smile crossed his expression. 

"Hey, Naru. Hey, Gaara." He greeted with a nod and a smile. 

"Ready?" Naruko asked. Raiba nodded. He followed the pair to a secluded area of the park, taking off his jacket and throwing it by the tree. Almost immediately after warming up, Raiba crouched down with one foot a little in front of the other and torso turned a little with arms up to protect his torso. "Good." 

Naruko ran slowly (for her and Gaara, at least) and punched towards Raiba's face, which he blocked and stepped to the side, using the girl's own momentum to pull her down and forward a little. Expecting this, Naruko pushed off the ground with her left foot and sent her body towards the male. His body stuttered a little as he tried to move away, allowing Naruko to hit him a little. He stumbled and fell, while Naruko rolled and whirled around to face him. She relaxed her stance and walked forward to help him up when she saw he'd fallen. Gaara, who was off to the side watching them, spoke up.

"That was good. We just need to speeden up your reaction time a little and you shouldn't hesitate during a fight. Every moment counts." He paused for a moment before walking close in front of him, so that their faces were close, and looked into his eyes, continuing. "Always keep your eyes on your enemy." 

"Okay. Don't hesitate. Keep eye on the enemy." Raiba parroted. Gaara nodded in satisfaction and went back to sit and observe once more. 

"Good. Again!" Naruko shuffled back over to her spot and moved into her stance. 

Around an hour-and-a-half later, the two were tired and sitting down, breathing heavily and both sweaty. After the training session, their knees were weak and arms spaghetti. 

"My palms are sweaty." Naruko murmured quietly to herself.

"I'll go get you guys some water. I'll be right back." Gaara offered and left the area. 

A little bit after the redhead left, Raiba turned to look at Naruko. He swallowed slowly and stood up. The girl watched him curiously.

"Hey, uh..." Raiba trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck. His cheeks gained a slight pink shade as he avoided eye contact. He settled for: "Are you excited for the bonfire tonight?" 

"Oh, yeah! I've never been here before to see it, and everyone is pretty excited for it, so I'm really looking forward to it." Naruko grinned widely, looking at the other joyfully.

"Do you - if you're okay with it - do you wanna - maybe - come see it with me?" Raiba's cheeks were pink as he looked at the blonde-and-crimson-haired girl. 

"Ah." Naruko murmured. She blinked softly, then gave a small, apologetic smile. "Actually, I一"

"She's going with me." Raiba was a little startled at the sudden entrance of the redhead, as well as his rough voice. He looked down at the pale hand that tightly clutched a water bottle and shoved it against his chest. He reached up to take it slowly and nervously, and the offending hand left. Gaara moved to stand beside Naruko, the girl a little behind him - as if he was shielding her from something. His seafoam-green eyes narrowed, annoyed, as he watched the other like a hawk. 

Smiling softly, Naruko reached a hand up and grasped the hem of Gaara's vest and smiled at him to calm him down. He did. 

"Oh...okay. Sorry, I didn't know." 

"It's fine. Our training session has finished, anyway, so we'll see you later, alright?" 

"Yeah. See ya, guys." 

Naruko and Gaara left to their hotel room. Gaara handed her her water bottle, and she sipped on it as they made their way back. Gaara didn't let go of her hand the whole time. Naruko didn't mind.

* * * * *

"Ready to go?" Gaara asked, a bright pink tone to his cheeks. Naruko nodded, cheeks rosy. 

Naruko's clothing consisted of a pale blue kimono, white and dark blue floral pattern on it. Her feet wore white socks and she stood on beige-coloured wooden sandals. Her long hair had been done by an older woman in the village that wanted to design her hair for the night because she saw that it hadn't been done yet (every other girl - as well as some guys with longer hair - had something done). A few wavy strands of hair had been left to frame her face, blonde switching to red in a soft gradient. The hair on her head's sides had been taken and twisted, both connected to the swirl-like low bun in her hair, flecks of crimson peeking through when her scarlet tips surfaced. In the hair that had been twisted were small, beautiful flowers that had come from the village's florist shop. They consisted of blue bellflowers and brunneras, white lisianthuses and stephanotis, purple geraniums and balloon flowers. From Naruko's ear-lobes hung her Uzumaki earrings. Around her left wrist was a thin and simple chain bracelet, a small butterfly charm hanging from it.

Gaara was dressed in a red kimono. His obi was black with a thin, white line going through the middle and forming a circle in the centre of the front. The ends of his sleeves and end of his kimono had gradually changed from red to seafoam-green, much to Naruko's amusement. From the edges came black lines that changed shade every now and then and a few floral patterns had been formed, swirls and curves also being created. His feet, too, were clothed in white socks and beige wooden sandals. Around his neck proudly lay the necklace Naruko had gotten him. 

"Let's go?" She asked, smiling with red cheeks. 

The two left their room. 

Upon their arrival, they were immediately shocked at the sight of the bonfire. It was _huge_! There were so many square-shaped blankets on the floor, at least two people sitting on each one. Naruko and Gaara spotted an unoccupied blanket relatively close to the fire, and moved to sit on it. They began to wait for the event to start. 

"You..look nice." Gaara complimented Naruko with a bashful smile on his face, who's whiskered cheeks lit up in a fiery red. 

"Th-thanks. You look really nice too." She laughed a little, index finger scratching her hot cheek in embarrassment, eyes looking away. Gaara couldn't help but smile at how cute she looked. He couldn't help but find himself raising his hand and moving it forward, fingers brushing a few loose strands of hair and moving them behind the girl's ear, which quickly turned red under his fingers. Gaara could feel his own face get hotter and redden. The palm of his hand moved to rest on the side of Naruko's face, thumb gently brushing across her warm cheek. Her head tilted and eyes closed to focus on the foreign warmth of Gaara's hand. 

Despite the constant chatter of those around them, to Naruko and Gaara, it was just them that existed in this moment. For Naruko, it was just Gaara. For Gaara, it was just Naruko. She sighed softly, content, and Gaara couldn't help but smile at the happiness in the girl. 

Before they knew it, louder crackles from the bonfire sounded and the two turned their attention to it. There were two shinobi standing by the fire. One was crouched down by it with his hands by the flames. After a few seconds, the flames flickered, then seemed to thicken and start to dance. 

"Woah..." Naruko murmured, entranced by the aflame embers jumping off the bonfire and floating around the area, the comforting crackles of them warming the atmosphere. 

Music then began to play from somewhere and, according to the reactions of the residents of the village, this was nothing surprising. The melody was nice and calm, with a touch of romance. Naruko and Gaara, both, could see why everyone was looking forward to this so much. The bonfire itself changed shape and formed patterns to the slow beat of the music. 

One of the small flames floated near them, and Naruko, with a very small amount of caution, reached towards it and placed her hand flat underneath it. The flame stopped and remained in place above her palm, moving a little side to side. The girl beamed, and gently pushed it back up, watching it bounce back into the air and begin its movements once again. 

When Naruko's hand fell back down beside her again, fingers came into contact with her own. She turned to look at the redhead beside her, blinking owlishly at the sensation of fingers bumping against hers, some in-between them and some on top of them. Naruko quietly interlaced her own fingers with Gaara's, who squeezed slightly. 

After a few moments, Gaara reached up and gently cupped the side of the girl's face again. His thumb gently brushed against the skin once again, enjoying the sensation of Naruko's hot cheek under his thumb, knowing that the only thing stopping him from doing anything more was his own self. 

Gaara's seafoam green eyes trailed down to look at her pink lips, a longing to kiss them desperately trying to influence him. Naruko's hand being placed on top of his own snapped him out of his trance.

"Gaara..." She whispered. To him, it was the loudest thing in the world. It was all he could focus on. Just Naruko. 

"Can I..Can I - um一" 

"Yes." 

Gaara moved forward - a little hesitant - and connected their lips in a soft and gentle kiss. It was a warm and comforting feeling. Gaara felt as though he'd just been rejuvenated. Naruko's lips were a little chapped, but Gaara didn't care. He was kissing Naruko. He was _kissing_ Naruko. He couldn't handle all these emotions exploding in his chest. 

Both Naruko and Gaara squeezed each other's hands gently and basked in the warmth of their contact and the flames. 

Then they stopped. 

"That was..." Naruko murmured, forehead against Gaara's. 

"Yeah..." An agreement was all his overstimulated mind could manage. Naruko smiled and saw a small tug in the corners of Gaara's lips. After a few moments, the two separated, but continued to hold their hands together. 

After a few minutes of silence between them, filled with the sounds of a crackling fire and the soft music in the air, Gaara turned back to Naruko. He moved his face closer to her and lightly kissed her on the cheek after moving a few strands of hair behind her ear. He then moved his lips down to it and let a quiet whisper slip past his lips. 

"Happy Valentine's, Naruko." 

"Happy Valentine's, Gaara." 


End file.
